EXIM Report Shows that Competition is Ramping Up for American Exporters

Today, the Export-Import Bank is releasing our annual Competitiveness Report to Congress, an opportunity for EXIM to educate lawmakers and the American people about the global landscape against which American exporters compete for sales and jobs.  This year marks the 45th edition of the report, the only analysis of its kind produced throughout the world.

One of our goals this year was to produce a sleeker, more readable report—and I’m proud to say that, thanks to the hard work of EXIM’s staff, this was accomplished.  Without sacrificing the nuances of complex subject matters, the report presents a clear picture for readers of the current state of global export competition, and of EXIM’s place within it.

Some notable findings from this year’s report include:

• There are now approximately 85 Export Credit Agencies (like EXIM) competing for deals and export-backed jobs throughout the world—a larger number than we had estimated in the past—and many of them have added new programs designed to aggressively boost their domestic exporters.

• While most of the world’s official export financing held roughly steady last year, China’s grew by more than 40%.

• The share of official export support governed by the OECD Arrangement’s responsible lending and transparency guidelines dropped once again this year from 39% to 34.6%, largely due to the continued rise of ECAs in China.

• There is growing consensus around the forecast of heavy growth in exports worldwide over the next five years—and countries will be competing to win those export sales in order to boost GDP growth and add jobs.

These trends were reinforced for me recently, when I met with many of my counterparts from around the globe.  When I asked officials from other ECAs whether they anticipate doing more or less to support their domestic exporters over the next five years, the response was clear.  Japan, Korea, Russia, Germany, France, Brazil—they all indicated that they’ll be accelerating their financial backing for their exporters.  And that’s to say nothing of China, which we know will be keeping its foot on the gas to seize the global export opportunities ahead.

In the face of increasingly intense global competition, EXIM will continue to strive to level the playing field for thousands of American businesses and the hundreds of thousands of workers who rely on them for a paycheck.  We’ll do that by equipping them with reliable, transparent, rules-based financing that gives overseas buyers the freedom to do what we know they usually want to do: choose American goods and services.

I encourage everyone to read the report.