Export growth = business expansion

Increased exports are critical to economic recovery and to our nation’s long-term economic growth. Export growth means business expansion and job growth. And — when coupled with steps to curtail anticompetitive trade tactics — it is the key to reversing chronic trade deficits with China and other major global trade competitors.

That’s why my office is hosting a free export seminar this morning at Youngstown State University for Ohio companies seeking to grow their businesses through global market development.

As one of three Democratic senators on the President’s Export Council (PEC), I’m working to advance the National Export Initiative (NEI) and President Obama’s goal to double exports over the next five years. To complement the work of the PEC, I recently organized the Ohio Export Advisory Group to help advance Ohio’s export opportunities abroad.

Private-sector JOBS

Export-supported jobs linked to the manufacturing sector already account for an estimated 7.9 percent of Ohio’s total private-sector employment. More than one-quarter — 25.9 percent — of all manufacturing workers in Ohio depend on exports for their jobs — the eighth highest among the 50 states.

But we need to do a better job in ensuring that small businesses have access to the global market. Less than one percent of the nation’s nearly 26 million small businesses export their products and these 240,000 businesses account for only 29 percent of the United States’ export volume — a number that has decreased in the last 10 years.

Among other strategies, we can boost American exports by doing a better job of helping small and medium-sized businesses connect to export opportunities. Modernizing the U.S. Commercial Service will help us achieve that goal. We must also negotiate policies that truly provide fair access to new markets for American producers.

Small and medium-sized businesses are under enormous pressure to deliver quality goods and services at the most competitive prices. Many do not have the resources to analyze export opportunities and develop relationships with customers overseas. That’s where the U.S. Commercial Service — a part of the Commerce Department that facilitates trade relationships for U.S. companies overseas – can make a valuable contribution to a company’s success by providing information and contacts to small businesses. In 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will issue a report I’ve requested that evaluates U.S. Commercial Service programs. It’s critical that the services offered by these programs work to advance the goals of the National Export Initiative.

Fair shake

At the same time, we need to ensure that American companies have a fair shake when selling their goods to other countries. In too many cases, trade is not often truly “free” with our trading partners. American exporters, workers, and manufacturers can out-compete their counterparts anywhere in the world, but when countries like China manipulate currency to gain a huge price advantage, give illegal subsidies to domestic industries, or restrict access to their markets, that’s not competing; it’s cheating.

To address this, I introduced the Trade Enforcement Priorities Act, which requires the United States Trade Representative to eliminate unfair or discriminatory barriers to American exports.

It is one thing to talk tough on trade and another to take tough action on trade. We need to be certain that our trading partners play by the same set of rules that we do. We cannot double exports and create jobs unless we address predatory trade practices – including China’s currency manipulation, which makes Chinese products up to 40 percent cheaper than American products — and work with small businesses to break into new markets across the world.

Our economic recovery hinges on our ability to rebuild Ohio’s manufacturing base and help small business in Ohio find new markets for their products. An aggressive American export strategy is a recovery strategy — one that will produce both short and long-term benefits in Ohio and throughout the country.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is Chairman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy and author of the book, “Myths of Free Trade.”