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EXPORT-IMPORT
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Luncheon |
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TRANSCRIPT OF EX-IM ANNUAL CONFERENCE MAY 3, 2002 |
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[ TRANSCRIPT PREPARED FROM A TAPE RECORDING.] |
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Luncheon
Introduction
Speaker:
Donald Evans
[Applause.] MR. AGUIRRE: Well, as we continue our regular business, I would like to recall the tragic events of September 11th, and to acknowledge the countless victims and heroes that were personally involved. Ex-Im Bank was co-located with the Department of Commerce at the World Trade Center. Our New York staff, with John Lavelle, Sharon Hess, Tom Cummings and Jennifer Drakes, performed admirably throughout that ordeal and beyond. I know that many of you here today have your own painful links to the tragedy of that day. Let us pause for a moment to reflect on the price we pay for freedom, remember the victims of terrorism and to also honor the heroic men and women who rose to the occasion and made us proud. [Moment of silence.]
MR. AGUIRRE: Thank you very much. I have the distinct honor to welcome my fellow Texan, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans. Secretary Evans, the thirty-fourth Secretary to lead the Department of Commerce, heads a diverse Cabinet agency of some 40,000 employees. His agency ranges in scope from international trade administration, which includes the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Services, to the Bureau of the Census and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I'd like to take a moment to also thank the many Commerce Department officials who have participated in this year's annual conference, and earlier, today, Maria Cino, Assistant Secretary and Director of the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, hosted a panel on how to make various government agencies help business exports. Additionally, several areas of the Commerce Department were represented with exhibit booths. A former successful businessman, Secretary Evans began his career in the oil fields of West Texas, as we say there, the oil business. By the time he was 33, he was President of Tom Brown, Inc., with 1,800 employees and a market value of $2 billion. Don Evans has never wavered in his belief in the free enterprise system. American business has brought unprecedented prosperity to the people of our country, and he sees his mission at the Commerce Department as helping to foster an economic climate in which U.S. businesses and workers can succeed in the global economy. He often says that the top item on his agenda at the Commerce Department is trade. As a result, he has been an active advocate for President Bush in his effort to secure trade promotion authority from Congress. He has tirelessly promoted U.S. exports and sought to open markets to U.S. goods and services, and he's dedicated to providing a level playing field for U.S. companies doing business around the world, something that we at Ex-Im Bank know a thing or two as well. I know that Don Evans describes himself as an optimist and, at some level, I believe that it's a trait that we all share, for to succeed in business, you pretty much have to be an optimist. He also believes that life's highest calling is to serve others, which is why he has been active in a myriad of worthwhile organizations. I'll tell you, Don and I shared a distinction of having been appointed by former Governor Bush, now President Bush, to the boards of regents at different university systems in Texas. He went to the University of Texas system, Hook and Horns, and after the University of Houston System--go "Cougs"--we both serve as Chairs of our respective university systems, and except for being fierce competitors in intercollegiate athletics, Don and I serve the people of Texas by jointly advancing higher education in that great state.
His commitment to excellence and service to others are but two of the many reasons why President Bush chose him to serve his country as Secretary of Commerce. SECRETARY EVANS: Eduardo, thank you. It's a delight to be here with a fellow Texan. Eduardo and I get back there every chance we get, don't we. I'll tell you, it's a great place to spend part of one's life. First, what a crowd. I mean, when I walked into the room, I kind of said, wow. I appreciate all of you being here, those from different parts of the world, those from America. It's a delight to have this opportunity to come visit with you. You know, they put a lot of fancy titles on you. I mean, you come up here, and you're Secretary, and you're called the honorable this and that, and I always am reminded of the story of the first day I was here was January 20, 2001. I was trying to explain to my 12-year-old son what I was going to be doing because he didn't know what this adventure was going to be all about. So I wanted to go explain the Department of Commerce to him.
Eduardo talked about the many responsibilities you have as Secretary of Commerce, and so I took him to the Department on January 20th, which was Inauguration Day, and knocked on the back door. And the security guard came to the door, and I said, "I'm Don Evans, and it appears I'm going to be Secretary of Commerce of the United States of America." [Laughter.] SECRETARY EVANS: And I said, "Well, let me see. Let me spend a little more time maybe talking to you about this. And so we visited, and I asked her to call maybe somebody or two and finally convince her that maybe I was going to be sworn in that evening, and so she allowed me in the building. I took my son through the building. I wanted to show him the office, and I was talking to him, in fact, the first thing I talked to him about was trade, because I do think it's certainly one of the principal focuses of our department, certainly of mine, because I understand the great importance of it as this world continues to move into globalization and expand trade. But as I went on talking about the responsibilities, talking about Census, and talking about Patents and Trademarks, and talked about Technology, and talked about NOAA, which is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is a pretty long title, and so I kind of boiled it down to one of the real important parts of NOAA is the weather service because all of the weather that is broadcast across our stations across America comes from the Department of Commerce or NOAA or the Weather Service there. So I explained to him, when you go home at night, and turn on the TV, and you see the weather for the next day so you know what school clothes to wear, the weatherman is giving you information that's coming from the Department of Commerce. And so he went home, and he told all of his friends that his, all of his fifth grade buddies, that he was going to have to move to Washington because his father was no longer going to run this multi-billion-dollar oil and gas corporation any more, he was going to Washington to be a weatherman. [Laughter.] SECRETARY EVANS: So, when they put some of these fancy titles on you, that helps bring it down in perspective. It has been a remarkable 16 months, and I first want to thank Eduardo for your extraordinary leadership with the Ex-Im Bank, so important, stepping in after the untimely death of our dear friend, John Robson, an extraordinary public service. You're also an extraordinary public servant in the State of Texas, the United States of America, touching the world. Thank you, Eduardo, very, very much. As I said, it's great to be up here with a fellow Texan. In your travels, you pick up a lot of interesting kind of stories, and you get a feel for the world. And I have had a little feel of the world in the last 15 months. I've traveled to a number of countries. I just got back from China. But I was particularly moved by a trip to Russia last fall. A young Russian businessman came up to me, and I would judge him to be about 36 years old. And he said to me, "Mr. Secretary, I figured out about six years ago that if I bought a loaf of bread in Moscow, and I moved it to St. Petersburg, I could make a profit doing that," and so he started to buy more than a loaf of bread. He started buying produce and moving it from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Six years later, he employs 1,200 people. He has a grocery store chain across Russia. And he said to me, "You know, Mr. Secretary, it's kind of like I'm living the American dream." A pretty interesting comment. They all know about it. It's all the same dream, though. We all share the same dream. We all have the same, common goals, the same common purpose, the same common hopes. And so when I listened to him, I really had a very personal feel how important it is that this country, America, share our dreams. It ought to be an oath of ours that we're going to share our dreams with the rest of the world, and I don't know of any better way to do that than to do it through trade. I don't know anything more important, as to the future of this world, than leading this world toward open and free trade. I think that is the key to leading this world toward a world that lives in peace and prosperity. So, in my remarks, that's what I'm going to focus on. I'm going to focus on the President's commitment to opening up new markets for our exporters, and our workers, and our businesses in this country. As Eduardo said, the only way he's able to really pursue that is through trade promotion authority. The second comment, the second part I want to talk about, is the importance of our commitment to making sure that our exporters are in a position to compete effectively around the world as these markets open up. But, first, on trade promotion authority. In terms of trade, I would say the timing of this conference really could not be better, and not just because the House and the Senate passed the Ex-Im Bank's reauthorization this last week, but because, yes, the Senate is now focused on trade promotion authority. Fundamental, fundamental to creating the conditions in this world where our economy can grow, that you can do what you do so well, which is to create the wealth. All we do in government is try and create the conditions, the environment, so those out in the private sector can do what they do so well, which is create the wealth. And when you think about trade promotion authority and America leading on it, it's a fundamental question. Do you want the global economy to grow at a higher rate or do you want it to grow at a lower rate? I mean, I don't know what the difference is. I don't know if it's an additional 50 basis points or 100 percent or 1 percent, 100 basis points, what it is. All I know is that opening up trade around the world means that our economy will grow at a faster rate. And so when you look at American economy, you think of a $10-trillion economy. You put half a percent on that, 1 percent on that, and it's a pretty big number. When you look at the global economy and think about $40-trillion global economy, and you say, through opening up trade it means our growth will be half a percent higher, 1 percent higher, it's a pretty big number. And so I say to the Senate, it's past time to pass trade promotion authority. I say to the leadership of the Senate that it's past time to pass trade promotion authority. Instead of putting further obstacles in the way, we've got to get on with it, give the President tools that he needs because we're losing the battle, America is. We're on the sidelines right now, while others continue to move ahead. For the past 100 years, for the past century, the United States was the leader in world trade. We were constantly pressing for open markets and freer trade. Today, we can't even really take a meaningful seat at the table. The President's authority to negotiate a trade agreement, what used to be called fast track authority, now it's called trade promotion authority, lapsed some eight years ago.
What's happened in the meantime? I'll tell you what the statistics are today. There are 150 free trade agreements in the world. The European Union is a party to 31 of them, Mexico is a party to 3 of them--to 10 of them--we are a party to 3 of them. We increased our number by 50 percent when we signed--went from 2 to 3--when we signed a free trade agreement this last year with Jordan. The benefits of trade, though, are not just for the American businesses here. They go beyond that. They also affect our consumers and think about it from a consumer perspective. Lowering trade barriers is just like a tax cut. The combined efforts of the Uruguay Round and the NAFTA Round through studies suggests that an average family of four benefitted from that to the tune of about $2,000 a year. If you look forward at the World Trade Organization's new round of negotiations and you think about what that could mean for the global economy in America, we would say that could lead to a benefit of some $2,500 per year per family. Go back again to what I said about the global economy and just think about what it can mean to a $40-trillion economy if you're able to increase the growth rate some half a percent or 1 percent or 1.5 percent. So, if the argument is so compelling, and indeed I'm one that absolutely believes that it is, what's holding up the parade? Why aren't we moving forward with this? The fact is that TPA, trade promotion authority, right now is being held hostage to a bill that would limit the choices, limit the health care choices for dislocated workers, for laid-off workers. Senator Daschle wants to expand what has been an extremely useful government retirement retraining program known as trade adjustment assistance into nothing more than cash grants for a favored few. The amendment includes carve-ins, a few special set-asides for workers in a few industries, at the expense of all American workers. The President believes that we need an effective program to help workers--there is no question about that--those workers who have lost their jobs due to changes in our economy. And the administration has been working hard to narrow the differences that we have on just what should be in the trade adjustment assistance package, but the goal should be improving the skills of American workers, getting them back to work, not hand out, but hand up, do they need support, do they need help in retraining? Yes, they do. Job placement? Yes, they do. Some financial assistance along the way? Of course, they do. But Americans also want the people and policies to be put in front of politics. So I think it's time to get on with the vote on TPA. If you voted straight up on TPA, it would have north of 70 votes. So it is clear that that bill is prepared to pass. And so, again, I think it's time to vote on TPA, and give this President the authority he needs to push free trade forward all around the world. As you negotiate trade agreements and you get them into place, then it's certainly important that we fill in behind it, that that's only half the battle. Once the trade agreement is in place, then you have to follow through and make sure you have the necessary export promotion efforts, as well as the commitment to compliance, to assist, and support and help our exporters. There is nothing more important than make sure that, as you expand free trade, we've got to make sure that there is a level playing field for everybody, we're all playing by the same rules. So America will push that very hard and will be very active when it comes to ensuring, that is, we continue to build on this global trading system and the rules, that we're all playing by the same rules. Let me give you an example on compliance. China's accession to the WTO represents clearly the most significant market opening initiative since NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, but the agreement with China will only be as good as China's compliance with the commitments and their willingness to promote the interests of American exporters in the Chinese market. Given that fact, we are focusing certainly very intensely on China as a market. I just returned from leading a delegation of 15 business leaders to that market, and we stopped in Beijing, we went to Shanghai, we talked about the opportunities that WTO membership meant to these companies, as well as all businesses and exporters in America. I also met with my Chinese counterparts while I was there to convey the important message of timely and transparent implementation of each of China's commitments to the WTO. Three weeks prior to my trip, we had a team over there led by Under Secretary Grant Aldonas that was also delivering this same message. Before that, Bill Lash, who is the Assistant Secretary of Market Access and Compliance was there. I hope to get back this fall. I will get back this fall. When we're committed, we're committed. We're not doing it halfway. We're not going over there for an obligatory trip to China. I want them to know that we're serious about being proactive in assisting them in their implementation of their commitments to the WTO, and so we are providing technical assistance to them. We will continue to do that. We have more people from the Department of Commerce deployed in China than any other country in the world. As far as promotional efforts are concerned, we are taking a more what we would call "strategic approach" to our export promotion efforts, one that focuses on those markets where we have much to gain, and as a result of our negotiations, like China, I think there's great opportunity there. Small- and medium-size businesses, in particular, need our help as an information bridge to market opportunities all around the world. Our goal, quite frankly, is to be the best of the class when it comes to responsiveness and effectiveness of our export promotion services. Meeting that goal will require a coordinated effort all across the federal government, and indeed we have a coordinated effort across the federal government. It's called the TPCC, which is a Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee. I'm delighted to say that Eduardo serves as my Vice Chairman on this committee, but it's bringing agencies all across government together to stay very focused on doing what we can to support the export community in finding new markets abroad. In order to make sure that we understand our customers' needs, our workers', our exporters' needs, we had a survey to see what it was they needed, and we benchmarked what their expectations were, and we also are going to benchmark what our competition is doing, so we can measure ourself, which I think is very important. If we're going to put programs in place, let's measure them. Are they successful? Are they working? Are they delivering the kind of services to the American worker in businesses that they should? What that has led to is the development of a comprehensive national export strategy during this President's tenure. This will be the first, I think, effective strategy that's been put in place in terms of exports in quite some time. Can we make a difference? Absolutely. We know that trade agreements, as a result of hopefully what TPA will deliver us, could contribute as much as $1.9 trillion to the economic growth of this world, but look on beyond that. I mean, I don't know what the number is. I like to just look at it in the big picture of things. Over the generations ahead, as you open up trade, the global economy is going to grow certainly at a more rapid pace, which means trillions and trillions of dollars. Our goal is to ensure that U.S. companies garner their fair share of the expanding market. Our efforts will necessarily depend primarily on the innovation and ingenuity of the exporters, of the businesses. As I said before, I mean, all government can do is create the conditions, create the right environment. It's the exporters, it's the workers, it's the entrepreneurs that really create the wealth, but we do intend to improve our ability to find the market opportunities that our companies seek and to support them, as trade, indeed, becomes an ever-increasing part of our economy. Twenty-five percent of the growth in the U.S. economy in the 1990s was a result of trade. I would say to you, in the decade we're in now, I don't know what the number will be, but it will be something higher. Will it be 30 percent, 35 percent? I'm not sure, but I'm sure that it might be higher. That is why we've been working so hard with our friends, like Eduardo, across the government to put this national export strategy in place, and we will present that to Congress on May the 14th. Now you probably wouldn't expect me to leave this group of bankers without saying a few things about the critical role that finance plays in our strategy. Trade finance is one of the top two challenges that small- and medium-size businesses identified when we surveyed them. Our survey also found that the vast majority of U.S. companies did not take advantage, they are not aware of the trade finance products marketed by Ex-Im Bank or to Small Business Administration under their working capital programs. So we're going to try and deliver that message, and we're going to do it by combining the efforts of the Small Business Administration, the Ex-Im Bank, the Foreign Commercial Service operation within the Department of Commerce to make sure that our customers, and our clients, and our exporters know about these products. We want to make these programs more effective by integrating them, to the extent we can, while still preserving the benefits of each. Our vision here is one program available to all banks that could be customized, depending upon the needs of the bank and the needs of the client. There is one other facet of trade finance that I propose we work together on, and that is how to best leverage one of our greatest resources, which is the American financial community. There is plainly more that we can do to draw upon your experience, and your expertise, and your creativity in getting our exports out the door. So I ask you to be engaged in it, I ask you to continue to deliver the trade message throughout your communities to all of those you talk to. One of my big chores in the months and years ahead will be in educating the American people about trade, and why it is going to be such an important part of their life, and why it is good for our country, and why it is good for all mankind, and why it is so fundamental to leading this world toward a world that lives in peace and prosperity. I want to take you back to the dream. The dream that we all have is to leave this world for our children and our grandchildren, one that is a world that lives in peace and prosperity. Trade is how to get there in the years ahead. You develop relationships, you develop friendships, you develop partnerships, you work with others all around the world, and you learn about them, and you learn that we all share the same dreams. So back to your role, I just would say that I would like to make an informal appointment of you to be ambassadors of this great mission to sell our own country on the importance of trade toward leading us toward peace and prosperity, and sell the whole world on how important trade is toward leading us toward peace and prosperity. Thank you all very much for having me. It's been a delight to be here. Eduardo, thank you again for the great leadership that you're providing America, and God bless all of you. Appreciate you. [Applause.]
[Whereupon, the luncheon proceedings were concluded.]
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Revised: May 7, 2002
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