By Tom McClimon and Kay Scrimger
August 1, 2011

In opening the session “Promoting a Metro Export Agenda,” Conference of Mayors President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa said, “I want 25 cities to be export-ready in two years. Exports can help a city grow economically and mayors should be taking the lead in developing an export agenda for their communities.”

Ambassador Mickey Kantor, U.S. Trade Representative from 1993-1996, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce (1996-1997), moderated the panel. Villaraigosa introduced him as one of the “finest trade negotiators in the world.” The panel included officials from a non-profit public policy organization, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the East West Bank.

Brookings Institution Vice President and Metropolitan Policy Program Director Bruce Katz said, “Every city should have a strategy for growing exports.”

Only 13 percent of the nation’s GNP is devoted to exports while countries such as Japan and China have over 30 percent of the GNP devoted to exports. Thus, there is a lot of room for growth in the U.S. Mayors need to weigh in on trade deals and other export agreements because they mean jobs for their cities. And, “cities and metro areas can deliver.”

Katz encouraged mayors to develop “more intentional” trade strategies, determining what makes their cities different, what the city’s image is, and playing to those strengths in building their international trade. He also suggested that mayors weigh in on trade deals and other export agreements, such as the proposed free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, because they mean jobs for their cities.

[The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution in support of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement in June 2008 at the Miami Annual Meeting.]

U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration Manufacturing and Services Assistant Secretary Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale described the Administration's program to increase exports.

The Obama Administration launched the National Export Initiative (NEI) in 2010 with the goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2014, which will create a multitude of new jobs. “We are on track,” Lamb-Hale said. “Exports have increased 14.8 percent each year, and in the first five months of 2011 exports are up by 16.4 percent.”

The Commerce Department offers numerous resources to assist U.S. businesses get in the export business. Mayors need to encourage their local businesses to contact the Commerce Department offices for assistance. Mayors should also keep in mind the resources of other U.S. government offices, such as the Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and others.

“The U.S. lags behind the rest of the world in promoting exports and needs to catch up,” said East West Bank CEO Dominic Ng.

The United States needs to put greater emphasis on doing business outside the U.S. It is critical to start educating our children for the global world through, for example, increasing the teaching of the Chinese language in our schools. By 2020, direct foreign investment in China could go as high as $3 trillion. U.S. companies need to be part of that. The bottom line is that the U.S. lags behind the rest of the world in promoting exports, and it needs to catch up. Mayors can help lead the way by encouraging their local businesses to get in the export business, which will mean jobs in their cities.

Ng posed two major questions for mayors to consider: how can we attract foreign investment to the United States, and how can we attract exports to the United States from other nations. He suggested that the ethnicity of a city can be important to attracting trade and investment from abroad.

Each panelist encouraged mayors to develop design an export strategy that draws from the city’s strengths and demographic makeup, and to cultivate business and trade relationships with other nations. They also discussed the ports issue, a “huge driver for exports,” and pointed out the need to help ports become more competitive.