The national export strategies’ trade  promotion program budget authority tables also include the entire budgets  of Ex-Im Bank, OPIC, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the  U.S. Trade Representative as well as very small amounts of the budgets of  the Departments of Energy, Labor, and the Treasury and SBA. We made similar comments in 1998  and 2002. Total Reported TPCC Agency Budget Authority Has Declined but Implications are Unclear

Since 2002, the budget authority for trade promotion reported in the  national export strategies has fallen or remained relatively unchanged at  TPCC member agencies, but the implication of these trends for agencies’  trade promotion activities is not clear. At the same time, the trade promotion budget authority for other  key TPCC agencies remained relatively flat. The four agencies named in figure 1 account for more than 90 percent of  TPCC member agencies’ combined budget authority related to trade  promotion, which ranged from $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2002 to $1.5 billion  in fiscal year 2006 (enacted) and $1.3 (requested) in fiscal year 2007. It is difficult to determine the effect of these budgetary trends on the  availability of trade promotion resources. The decline in Ex-Im Bank’s budget authority, shown in figure 1, did not  reduce its ability to provide export financing. Similarly, since 2000, the  strategies have excluded the U.S. Agency for International Development  (USAID) from the program budget authority table, stating that the agency’s  activities “support trade promotion indirectly through broad economic  growth and reform, unlike other activities that more directly fund trade  finance or promotion.” However, the 2002 national export strategy  included USAID in a letter from 10 key TPCC agencies and portions of the  2002, 2003, and 2004 strategies were devoted to a possible joint USAID– Ex-Im Bank program to support capital projects in developing countries. TPCC Has Made Some Progress in Improving Coordination

TPCC’s member agencies have pursued a number of efforts to improve  coordination of trade promotion activities, responding to  recommendations in its 2002 national export strategy. For example:  Interagency training. TPCC Strategies Continue to Provide Little Guidance for Export Promotion Activities

As we found in 2002, the TPCC’s annual strategies provide limited  information regarding agencies’ export promotion goals and progress. Consequently, the TPCC’s ability to provide in the strategy a plan  for coordinating federal trade promotion activities, as directed by  Congress, is constrained. Lack of Systematic Data Hampers Assessment of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses’ Participation

Although available data suggest that TPCC member agencies have  involved small and medium-sized businesses in trade promotion activities,  a lack of systematically collected information makes it difficult to assess  progress or trends. For example:    Department of Commerce. Department of Agriculture. Department of State. Moreover, the national export strategies provide anecdotal,  rather than systematic, reporting on small and medium-sized business  participation in trade promotion activities. For example, the TPCC’s annual export strategies do  not review or assess agency goals or activities.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 1992, Congress established the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC) to provide a unifying interagency framework to coordinate U.S. export promotion activities and to develop a governmentwide strategic plan. TPCC member agencies' activities include providing training, market information, advocacy, trade finance and other services to U.S. companies, especially small- and medium-sized businesses. These U.S. government agencies together have $1.5 billion in budget authority for export promotion programs and activities for fiscal year 2006. Each year, the TPCC submits to Congress a mandated national export strategy, reporting member agencies' activities and trade promotion budget authority and establishing broad priorities. The TPCC secretariat, which has no budget of its own, is housed in the Commerce Department, which chairs the committee. In this testimony, which updates findings from a 2002 report, GAO (1) reports on trends in TPCC member agencies' budget authority; (2) assesses TPCC's coordination of trade promotion and its national export strategies; and (3) discusses small- and medium-sized businesses' participation in trade promotion activities.

What GAO Found

TPCC's national export strategies for fiscal years 2002-2006 show that agencies' trade promotion-related budget authority dropped by about one third. This resulted mainly from budget changes at the Department of Agriculture and Ex-Im Bank, which account for more than half of U.S. trade promotion budget authority. At the same time, budget authority for two other key agencies, the Departments of Commerce and State, remained relatively steady. However, the effect of these trends on the agencies' trade promotion activities is unclear. For example, the decline in Ex-Im Bank's budget authority did not reduce its ability to provide export financing. TPCC member agencies have taken several steps, such as participating in interagency training and outreach to exporters, to improve coordination of trade promotion efforts. However, coordination challenges persist, for example, among the Departments of Commerce, State, and Agriculture regarding the allocation of overseas staff for trade promotion activities. In addition, as GAO found in 2002, the annual national export strategies have several limitations that affect the TPCC's ability to coordinate trade promotion activities. For example, the strategies do not identify or measure agencies' progress toward mutual goals or review their budget allocations. In addition, they focus on different topics each year without evaluating progress in addressing previous years' topics. GAO has made similar comments in several prior reviews of the TPCC. A lack of systematic information makes it difficult to assess progress or trends in small and medium-sized businesses' participation in trade promotion activities across agencies. TPCC agencies track small-business participation in a variety of ways. The national export strategies provide only anecdotal information on these businesses' participation in trade promotion activities.