Exports crucial for growth

It’s no secret to anyone in Northeast Ohio that the Mahoning Valley is experiencing a rebirth. While there are still many Ohioans looking for work and pensioners seeking relief, new businesses are opening their doors, and existing companies are expanding, increasing production and adding jobs.

The region’s growth has not gone unrecognized. As this paper reported in March, the Brookings Institution recently singled out the Youngstown metropolitan area for having the strongest export growth in the country between 2009 and 2010. Impressively, Brookings reported that manufacturing was responsible for more than 92 percent of Youngstown’s export sales growth.

We know that companies that export their products and services often experience faster annual growth, pay higher wages to employees, and are more likely to stay in business. Recently, six Ohio companies were recognized by the U.S. Commerce Department for excellence in exports. As a member of the President’s Export Council, I’m working to double American exports by 2015. Ohio companies, including those in the Mahoning Valley, can’t afford to be left out of this important initiative.

Export summit

That’s why it’s so critical for businesses in the area to attend the first TechBelt Export Summit, which will be Monday at the D.D. & Velma Davis Center. Hosted by the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber, the event will run from noon until 4 p.m. and is designed to give companies across the Mahoning Valley the tools they need to grow their business, add jobs, and increase their profitability by expanding their exports. Interested participants can register at regionalchamber.com.

This important forum builds upon the work my office has accomplished at three prior export seminars across Northeast Ohio, including one at Youngstown State University. At YSU, dozens of small business owners turned out to learn how to expand their exports or begin exporting for the first time. As a member of the House of Representatives in the 1990s, I also helped bring the U.S. Export Assistance Center to nearby Cleveland.

Educating our small businesses about export opportunities is vital — but it’s only part of the equation. Strong trade enforcement must also be central in our approach. One of Youngstown’s largest companies, V&M Star, is a key example of how strong trade enforcement helps keep jobs here in Warren or Struthers — instead of shipped abroad to China.

In recent years, increased imports of underpriced steel products like pipes and tubes made it virtually impossible for domestic producers to compete at home or abroad. I fought for Ohio jobs by passing legislation to apply duties to imports from “non-market” economies like China, and testifying on behalf of producers like V&M Star at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Many of these cases involved unfairly- subsidized imports from China. Despite its membership in the World Trade Organization, China has shown a blatant disregard for international trade laws by manipulating its currency and providing illegal subsidies to its manufacturers.

Thanks to rulings from the nonpartisan ITC in favor of American steel makers — which has enabled our government to apply duties to unfairly-subsidized imports — the domestic industry is on the rebound. I witnessed it firsthand at V&M Star’s groundbreaking of a new $650 million steel-production facility in Youngstown, which has brought hundreds of new jobs to the Mahoning Valley.

Currency manipulation

Finally, we must crack down on China’s currency manipulation, which amounts to an unfair subsidy of anywhere from 20 to 40 percent for Chinese businesses exporting to the United States. According to a recent report, our growing trade deficit with China has cost the United States more than 2.8 million jobs since 2001. My Currency Exchange and Oversight Reform Act was the biggest bipartisan jobs bill to clear the Senate last year — and at no cost to taxpayers. Despite the fact that my bill could create up to 2.25 million jobs and that China continues to disregard the rules and manipulate its currency, the U.S. House of Representatives has yet to take up this vital legislation. Our economy cannot afford this kind of delay.

Rebuilding Ohio’s manufacturing base — and our economy — will depend in large part on helping our small businesses find new markets for their products, which we can do by enforcing trade laws and providing a support system for our small businesses. It’s worked for Youngstown, it’s working in Ohio, and it can work for our nation.

U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, is the senior senator from Ohio.