§4001 Congressional Findings and Declaration of Purpose

Summary

The law aims to increase U.S. exports by helping American businesses sell more goods and services abroad. Congress found that exports support one out of every nine manufacturing jobs and make up one out of every seven dollars of U.S. goods produced. Service industries give jobs to seven out of every ten Americans and provide 65 percent of the nation’s gross national product. Trade deficits hurt the dollar and raise inflation. Many small and medium businesses and some farm products could be sold overseas but are not. Export services are scattered and often too small to help many exporters. Stronger export trading companies and help from banks and local programs are needed. The Department of Commerce leads export promotion, especially for finished products. To act on this, the law creates an office inside the Department of Commerce to promote export trade associations and export trading companies. It allows bank holding companies, bankers’ banks, and Edge Act or agreement corporations that are subsidiaries of bank holding companies to invest in export trading companies. It also reduces limits on trade financing by financial institutions and changes how antitrust laws apply to some export activities.