Trade representative visits valley to promote export initiative

Trade experts say the White House has slashed budgets for export promotion but they are hopeful that the administration's National Export Initiative will turn that around.

In his State of the Union message in late January, President Barack Obama called for boosting exports to create jobs. Obama promised to double exports over five years, creating 2 million additional jobs.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk came to Las Vegas on Tuesday to promote the new program and meet with U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev.

Al DiStefano, the Nevada Commission of Economic Development's director of global trade and investments, said he is thankful for the government program.

"What they said they are going to do is the right thing," DiStefano said.

During 2009, Nevada's exports fell 7.3 percent, he said, and that was the second-smallest percentage decrease among the states and well below the 18.7 percent national drop in exports.

DiStefano, however, said Kirk was correct in saying Nevada doubled its exports between 2004 and 2008 to $6 billion.

The biggest growth came in the category of gold exports, which increased from $1.3 billion to $3 billion four years later, the state trade official said. Next came nonmetallic minerals and ore exports, which jumped from $11 million to $658 million. The toys, games and sports goods category, which includes slot machines, climbed to $490 million from $296 million.

Aircraft parts, one of the smaller categories, soared to $108 million from $44 million.

While Obama wants to promote exports, Kirk said the administration has set limits on how far it will go to do that. The White House doesn't believe in weakening the dollar to make U.S. goods more competitive overseas, Kirk said. Nor does it favor subsidizing industries, as some foreign countries do.

Panch Prasad, president of U.S. International Trading Corp., a Las Vegas exporter of cosmetics, isn't impressed by the administration's rhetoric, though. Prasad said the administration cut the international trade staff in Nevada and slashed its budget. Las Vegas lost one of its two trade staff officials last year and the trade office didn't have the budget to even attend an export conference in nearby Palm Springs, Calif.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., hasn't been helpful in supporting export-friendly policies, either, Prasad said.

DiStefano, however, said the Obama administration is now promising to increase budgets dramatically in order to promote exports and create jobs.

The Commerce Department said it will add 328 trade experts; boost the number of exporters to new markets by 50 percent in five years; increase U.S. presence in China, India and Brazil; and focus on increased exports of environmental products, renewable energy technology, health care and biotechnology.

Before Obama's State of the Union speech, the White House wanted to budget $200 million for an Agriculture Department export program. Congress was considering cutting the program's budget by $150 million. Now, the White House is asking for $235 million for the program, DiStefano said. Kirk said many exporters are small businesses who don't look to the federal government for help. However, "they want us to demystify this whole world of trade," Kirk said.

DiStefano said the biggest opportunity for export growth in Nevada is in fostering exports by Nevada businesses that have never sold abroad.

"There (are) thousands of Nevada companies that don't export at all, but they could," he said.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.