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White House Strategy to Boost Exports

March 17, 2010 – In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama outlined his plan to re-launch the President’s Export Council and craft a new National Export Initiative to coordinate federal efforts to help rebuild the economy by increasing export opportunities.

He amplified the scope of the plan in recent remarks at the Export-Import Bank's Annual Conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The initiative’s sweeping goal is to double all U.S. exports in the next five years.

The new strategy aims at improving collaboration among government agencies such as the Small Business Administration and the Department of Commerce; guiding priorities for international staffing, foreign assistance, and agricultural research; and creating a new, “bolder” approach toward promoting U.S. exports – particularly agricultural products – overseas.

Rod Bain reports from Washington, DC…