§4001 Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

Summary

The law aims to increase United States exports of goods and services. It says exports already support many jobs and a large share of U.S. production: one out of every nine manufacturing jobs and one out of every seven dollars of goods made. Service industries are very important too, employing seven out of ten Americans and making 65 percent of the nation’s gross national product. The law notes that trade deficits can weaken the dollar and cause inflation. It also says many small and medium businesses and some farm products could sell more abroad, but export services are scattered and firms lack scale. State and local export efforts and bank support are helpful, and the Department of Commerce should lead export promotion, especially for finished products. To reach these goals, the law creates an office in the Department of Commerce to help form export trade associations and export trading companies. It allows bank holding companies, bankers’ banks, and Edge Act corporations and agreement corporations that are subsidiaries of bank holding companies to invest in export trading companies. It also reduces some limits on trade financing by financial institutions and changes how competition (antitrust) laws apply to certain export trade.