Trade News: Made in America, American Jobs Act & U.S. Export Promotion

From DOC: The American Jobs Act: Tax Cuts to Help America’s Businesses Hire and Grow. Key elements of his tax cut proposal are:

• A payroll tax cut to businesses, with a focus on small employers ($65 billion in combination with the payroll tax holiday for new wages).
• A complete payroll tax holiday for new jobs or wage increases.
• Extend 100 percent business expensing through 2012 ($5 billion).
• Help entrepreneurs and small businesses access capital and grow.

Articles from Tradeology (ITA): New Agreement Provides for Improved Coordination of State and Federal Export Promotion Activities.  Efforts to better coordinate the export promotion activities of state agencies and the federal government took a step forward on September 7, 2011, with the signature of a memorandum of intent between the International Trade Administration (ITA) and the State International Development Organizations (SIDO).

Spreading the Word about How to Succeed in Exporting. Thanks to detailed training sessions that featured export specialists from the International Trade Administration (ITA), other federal agencies, and public and private partners in the trade community, more than 1,300 business counselors from Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) recently updated their knowledge and skills in how to best help U.S. companies export.

Making it Easier to Sell Products “Made in America”. President Obama has long said that exports are a key to the nation’s economic recovery.  Nearly two years ago, he launched the National Export Initiative with the goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014.  And, last month, in a speech before Congress where he unveiled the American Jobs Act — a bipartisan proposal to put Americans back to work — he stressed the economic benefits of these free-trade agreements.

From Global Trade Alert: Buy-American Provisions in the Proposed American Jobs Act. The new stimulus package that the Obama administration proposed to Congress in September, 2011, entitled the “American Jobs Act,” includes “Buy-American” provisions for iron, steel, and manufactured goods that are modeled after those of the stimulus package that the administration presented during its first weeks in office in 2009.

From International Trade: U.S. Government Agencies Involved in Export Promotion: Overview and Issues for Congress.  Approximately 20 federal government agencies are involved in supporting U.S. exports directly or indirectly.  Federal government agencies perform a wide variety of functions that contribute to export promotion, including providing information, counseling, and export assistance services; funding feasibility studies; financing and insuring U.S. trade; conducting government-to-government advocacy; and negotiating new trade agreements and enforcing existing ones.

Containerized Exports. Click to Enlarge.

From PIERS Transportation: U.S. Containerized Exports Rebounded in July.  Exports to Northeast Asia led export gains, rising 7% followed by Northern Europe, up 6%. On the downside, exports to the Caribbean saw volume losses again, this time a drop of 12%.  Exports to Southeast Asia declined 4%.  On a country level, China led the gains driven by a strengthening demand for waste paper, logs and lumber and wood pulp. Exports to top market China surged 9% (or 16,896 TEUs) to a total of 208,445 TEUs, followed by Korea and Australia with a 14% and 24% gain, respectively.