In 2010, the President established the National Export Initiative (NEI) to double U.S. exports over 5 years and create millions of jobs. As part of the NEI, the government has implemented a new website—www.export.gov—that offers tools to help small businesses begin exporting or access new markets.
Learn More: www.export.gov
International Buyer Program (IBP)
International Trade Administration (ITA), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
IBP recruits thousands of qualified foreign buyers, sales representatives, and business partners to U.S. trade shows each year, giving small businesses excellent opportunities to expand business globally. Participating U.S. businesses will not only meet more buyers, representatives and distributors, but their products and services can be listed in the Export Interest Directory and distributed to all international visitors.
Learn More: www.export.gov/ibp
Resources You Can Use
Protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
The DOC has undertaken numerous activities to assist small businesses in protecting IPR, both in the United States and abroad. The DOC launched a website to enable businesses to file complaints about IPR-related trade problems, which are answered within ten days by a trade specialist from the Office of Intellectual Property Rights. The DOC also established the 1-866-999-HALT hotline answered by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) IPR experts, who work with the Office of Intellectual Property Rights to help businesses secure and enforce their IPR through international treaties.
Home Page: www.stopfakes.gov
Report IP Theft: www.ice.gov/iprcenter and 1-866-999-HALT
U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im)
Ex-Im Bank provides financing assistance for the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. By offering the financing and insurance that most private institutions won’t, Ex-Im assumes risk so small businesses don’t have to. Through these services, Ex-Im Bank assists small businesses in managing their two most important objectives, borrowing money and getting paid. The launch page linked belowprovides information on events, products, and policies exclusively geared toward small businesses, which currently are exporting or trying to break into markets overseas.
Learn More: www.exim.gov/smallbusiness
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Approximately 70 percent of all U.S. exporters have 20 or fewer employees. SBA has placed a priority on helping these small business exporters by providing a number of loan programs specifically designed to help them develop or expand their export activities. The program offers borrowers a maximum SBA-guaranteed portion of $1.75 million. Small businesses should apply through a participating lender.
Learn More: www.sba.gov/exportloans
Export Credit Guarantee (GSM-102) Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The GSM-102 Program provides credit guarantees to encourage financing of commercial exports of U.S. agricultural products, while providing competitive credit terms to buyers.GSM-102 underwrites credit extended by the private banking sector in the United States (or, less commonly, by the U.S. exporter) to approved foreign banks using dollar-denominated, irrevocable letters of credit to pay for food and agricultural products sold to foreign buyers.
Learn More: www.fas.usda.gov/excredits/exp-cred-guar-new.asp
Other Ways the Administration Promotes Exports
Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP)
International Trade Administration (ITA), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)
The MDCP provides Federal financial and technical assistance to trade associations, chambers of commerce, and other industry groups that are particularly effective in reaching and assisting small and medium-sized enterprises. MDCP partnerships help to underwrite the start-up costs of competitiveness-enhancement projects, which these groups are often reluctant to undertake without Federal Government support.
Learn More: ita.doc.gov/mdcp
Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) Program
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The TASC program is designed to assist U.S. organizations by providing funding for projects that address sanitary, phytosanitary and related technical barriers that prohibit or threaten the export of U.S. specialty crops. For purposes of the TASC program, a “specialty crop” is defined as all cultivated plants and the products thereof produced in the United States except wheat, feed grains, oilseeds, cotton, rice, peanuts, sugar, and tobacco. Examples of activities these grants may cover include seminars and workshops, study tours, field surveys, pest and disease research, and pre-clearance programs. TASC proposals are accepted from any U.S. organization, including, but not limited to, non-profit trade associations, universities, agricultural cooperatives, private companies, U.S. government agencies, and state government agencies.Due to an extensive outreach effort by USDA in 2010 targeting the U.S. horticultural industry, the TASC program allocated more than $7.3 million in FY 2010 to 26 organizations representing hundreds of small businesses.
Learn More: www.fas.usda.gov/mos/tasc/tasc.asp