President Obama Provides Progress Report on National Export Initiative, Announces Members of the President’s Export Council

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama will provide a progress report on the National Export Initiative (NEI), which shows that the President’s goal of doubling exports and supporting several million new jobs over five years is on track, and that exports in the first four months of 2010 grew almost 17 percent from the same period last year.

Since the President called for the NEI in his State of the Union Address, significant progress has been made on each of its five main objectives:

.Improved advocacy efforts on behalf of U.S. exporters: The Department of Commerce has coordinated 18 trade missions with over 160 companies participating in 24 countries.

.Increased access to export financing: Ex-Im has more than doubled its loans to support American exporters from the same period last year, helping to support nearly 110,000 jobs.

.Reinforced efforts to remove barriers to trade: In March, the United States reached an agreement with China to reopen the Chinese market to U.S. pork and pork products. In June, the United States agreed with Russia to reopen the Russian market to U.S. poultry exports. These steps are worth more than $1 billion.

.Enforcement of trade rules: Last week the WTO ruled that European governments subsidized Airbus’s large civil aircraft. This ruling is expected to sustain and even restore jobs to American aerospace workers by leveling the playing field for the U.S. aerospace industry.

.International promotion of policies leading to strong, sustainable and balanced economic growth: These last 18 months have been the most effective period of international economic cooperation in generations with global growth replacing economic contraction.

The full Progress Report on the National Export Initiative is attached; you can also view it HERE.

The President will also announce that he has appointed members of the President’s Export Council, which includes a group of business and labor leaders who will offer advice on how to promote U.S. exports, jobs, and growth. In March, the President announced W. James McNerney Jr. as Chair of the President’s Export Council and Ursula Burns as Vice Chair. Members of the President’s Export Council announced today, who will join appointees from Congress and the Administration, are listed below.

President Obama said, “Boosting America’s exports strengthens our economic growth and supports millions of good, high-paying American jobs. That’s why I set ...