Commerce Secretary on Upping U.S. Exports

(Fox Business News)



Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on America’s new export initiative.

Obama Says New Export Initiative Off to Good Start

(Video: C-SPAN2 via MoxNews • Story: AP)





President Barack Obama declared good progress Wednesday on his pledge to double U.S. exports over the next five years, saying the nation’s sales abroad were up 17 percent in first four months of this year.

Speaking at the White House to a gathering of government and corporate officials, Obama said his administration is “bringing to bear the full resources of the United States government.”

“Our efforts are off to a solid start,” he said.

Obama has been emphasizing his efforts on the economy with increasing frequency lately, as fears rise that the nation’s already fragile recovery is weakening and perhaps headed to a second recession. Later in the week, he is scheduled to talk on the economy twice more, on a trip to Missouri and Nevada.

The topic of exports is especially important because the recovery has been driven far more by sales abroad and business and government spending than it has by consumer spending. And with critical midterm elections drawing closer, the White House want to burnish the administration’s image on the job-creation front. Read more here.

Related: The Grip of the Old Economy (Huffington Post)

‘Everybody Loses’ in a Trade War: USC Secretary Gary Locke

(Bloomberg)



U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke talked with Bloomberg’s Susan Li about China’s currency policy and trade relationship with the U.S.

Locke arrived in Hong Kong on May 16 for a 10-day trade mission to China and Indonesia aimed at promoting U.S. exports of clean energy, energy efficiency and electric power products.

U.S. Commerce Secretary ‘Very Concerned’ about China Policy

(Industry Week – Agence France-Presse)

Beijing’s policies in favor of local innovation and technology could give domestic firms a “leg up” over foreign rivals in clean energy market.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on May 17 he was “very concerned” about Chinese policies that could limit foreign firms’ access to the country’s ballooning clean energy market. Kicking off his first trade mission to China, Locke said Beijing’s policies in favor of local innovation and technology could give domestic firms a “leg up” over foreign rivals and pledged to raise the issue with Chinese officials.

“We’re very concerned about that,” Locke said. He also said that the policy was “made without any input from affected businesses and really not subject to any public comment.”

The issue comes ahead of key Sino-U.S. talks scheduled for next week in Beijing, to be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Locke and other key officials. Read more here.

Foreign Companies Chafe at China’s Restrictions

(New York Times – Keith Bradsher)

Foreign companies doing business in China are increasingly feeling as if the deck is stacked against them. China has filed more than a dozen trade cases to limit imports, imposed a series of “buy Chinese” measures and limited exports of some minerals to force multinationals to move factories to China.

Foreign executives in China find themselves increasingly at odds with Chinese officials over these measures, which Westerners view as protectionist and intended to give an edge to Chinese companies. Surveys by Western chambers of commerce of executives show growing disenchantment in the last year and a sense that doing business in China, never easy, is growing harder.

Arriving in Hong Kong on Sunday evening at the start of a nine-day trade mission to China, including stops in Shanghai and Beijing, the American commerce secretary, Gary Locke, said that his agenda for discussions with Chinese officials included Western companies’ difficulties in the Chinese market. “There are some policies of the Chinese government that many countries have raised concerns about, including the United States,” Mr. Locke said at a press conference at Hong Kong International Airport. Read more here.

Senate Confirms Locke as Commerce Chief

(CQ Politics – Adrianne Kroepsch)

Two months after President Obama’s inauguration and after two withdrawn nominations, the Senate confirmed Gary Locke as Commerce secretary by voice vote Tuesday.

Locke, 59, enjoyed a friendly reception from Democrats and Republicans on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee at his March 19 confirmation hearing. The panel approved the former Democratic governor of Washington for the job, 25-0.

During the vetting, he appeared to satisfy panel members of both parties with his positions on the wide range of issues and programs managed by the Commerce Department. In particular, he assured senators that the Commerce Department will run an open and independent 2010 census, beating back suggestions that the White House would control and politicize the population count. Census results are used to determine the distribution of congressional districts and the apportionment of House lawmakers.

Locke also took an aggressive stance on trade during his confirmation hearing. A free-trade supporter, he said he would work to open markets for American-made goods and would take a tough stance on enforcement of U.S. trade laws.