FedEx Express is collaborating with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Commerce, Business Council for International Understanding and Export-Import Bank of the United States to promote business and export opportunities in Latin America. A seven city tour – Washington D.C., Memphis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Houston and Chicago – brings together the U.S. ambassadors to Peru and Chile, the U.S. Charge d’ Affaires to Brazil and other trade facilitators with local business leaders and entrepreneurs.
“With U.S. exports to Latin America at approximately $161 billion, opening additional Latin American markets represents an enormous trading opportunity for job creation in the U.S.,” says Michael Ducker, FedEx Express chief operating officer. According to the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, U.S. exports supported an estimated 9.2 million jobs in 2010, and for every billion dollars of exports, more than 5,000 jobs are supported.
The tour supports the U.S. National Export Initiative, which has the objective of creating two million U.S. jobs by growing U.S. exports and promoting the benefits of greater trade access. According to the SBA Office of Advocacy, there are about 28 million businesses in the United States; of that, small and medium-size business represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms and generated 65 percent of net new private sector jobs over the past 17 years.
“U.S. exports can help small and medium-size businesses drive job creation in American,” Ducker says. “FedEx is an integral part of helping these entrepreneurs export goods by providing global access and international solutions.” In 2008, only 289,000 U.S. businesses were exporting, or about 1 percent of all businesses. “Tremendous opportunity exists for the U.S. government to help small and medium-size businesses participate more actively and effectively in export markets through advocacy and trade promotion,” he says.
