The NEI is a strategy for doubling U.S. exports by 2014 in order to help generate 2 million new jobs in the United States through increased coordination and funding of federal export promotion activities; greater financing for U.S. exporters; increased government advocacy on behalf of U.S. exporters; and negotiation of new trade agreements and stronger enforcement of existing U.S. trade agreements. With the increased focus on export promotion efforts, some Members of Congress have placed greater priority on understanding the functions, coordination, and budgets of federal government agencies involved in export promotion. Such an understanding may support increased congressional oversight of U.S. export promotion policy and related legislative activity. This report provides an overview of the federal agencies that participate in U.S. export promotion efforts and the issues that they raise for Congress. Export Promotion Services and Activities

The federal government conducts a wide variety of services that contribute to export promotion. Key agencies that offer direct export assistance include the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce, Department of State, Small Business Administration (SBA), and Trade and Development Agency (TDA). Related to exports also is the role of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in financing and insuring U.S. private investment for projects overseas. The TPCC is comprised of 20 member agencies, including the 9 agencies discussed above: USDA, the Department of Commerce, the Ex-Im Bank, OPIC, SBA, the Department of State, TDA, USTR, and the Department of the Treasury. The TPCC releases an annual report entitled the National Export Strategy , discussed below. Economic Rationales For and Against Federal Export Promotion

A starting point for congressional debates on export promotion often is the economic rationales for and against the involvement of U.S. government agencies in promoting U.S. exports. Interagency coordination by the TPCC inherently is complicated by the fact that multiple agencies are involved in export promotion. Some policymakers welcome the concerted effort to coordinate export promotion at the federal level through the creation of the Export Promotion Cabinet under the NEI. Funding for Export Promotion Activities by Federal Agencies

Congress has an ongoing interest in the level of U.S. government spending on export promotion activities by federal agencies, and the extent to which such spending is effective and efficient. There has been renewed interest on the part of the Obama Administration and Congress in reorganizing the trade policy functions of the federal government in order to enhance the effectiveness of U.S. export promotion efforts, improve U.S. trade policy coordination, avoid duplication of functions and activities, and for other reasons. The Administration also has created new coordinating bodies, such as the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center and the Interagency Task Force on Commercial Advocacy. 2988 would have required the Secretary of Commerce to establish a public directory for foreign buyers to identify U.S. manufacturers and service providers prepared to export clean and efficient energy and environmental products and services; required the Secretary of Commerce to establish a governmental database on foreign sales opportunities in such products and services; required the Secretary of Commerce to monitor and evaluate U.S. export promotion activities with respect to such products and services; and required the GAO to submit reports to Congress comparing the effectiveness of U.S. export promotion activities in this area with those of other major trade competitors.
This report provides an overview of the federal government agencies that participate in U.S. export promotion efforts and the issues that they raise for Congress. The recent global economic downturn has renewed congressional debate over the role of the federal government in promoting exports. This debate has been heightened with the Obama Administration's efforts to double U.S. exports under the National Export Initiative (NEI) and policy debates about possible reorganization of federal trade-related agencies. Some Members of Congress have placed greater priority on understanding the functions, coordination, and budgets of federal agencies involved in export promotion. Such an understanding may support increased congressional oversight of export promotion policy and related legislative activity.
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.
Approximately 20 federal government agencies are involved in supporting U.S. exports directly or indirectly. Nine key agencies with programs or activity directly related to export promotion are the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce, Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Small Business Administration (SBA), Department of State, Trade and Development Agency (TDA), Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and Department of the Treasury. The USDA has the largest level of export promotion funding, followed by Commerce. Some agencies charge fees for their services.
Coordination of export promotion activities is conducted through interagency bodies. In 1992, Congress attempted to enhance coordination of U.S. export promotion policy by creating the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), an interagency task force chaired by the Department of Commerce. The TPCC releases the National Export Strategy (NES), an annual report that serves as an effort to guide federal export promotion policy, goals, and activity. Executive Order 13534, issued in March 2010, formalized the NEI and established the Export Promotion Cabinet, a higher level coordinating body that is to work with the TPCC to make the NEI operational.
The export promotion activities of federal government agencies raise a number of issues for Congress; among the most prominent are the following:
The economic arguments for and against the involvement of the U.S. government in promoting exports in the context of issues such as market failures and foreign governments' support for their national exports; The effectiveness of interagency export promotion coordination through the TPCC and the Export Promotion Cabinet; The level of U.S. government spending on export promotion; its adequacy and efficiency of use; and The extent to which the export promotion activities conducted by federal government agencies may be similar or overlapping, and could be reorganized.