On Wednesday, Ambassador Kirk spoke at the New Hampshire Business Day in Washington, a luncheon hosted by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The luncheon focused on how business leaders in New Hampshire, as well as across the United States, can take advantage of federal resources to help their businesses grow and succeed through trade.
Ambassador Kirk speaks at the New Hampshire Business Day
With $4.4 million in total goods exports last year alone, New Hampshire was the top state in terms of annual export growth in 2010. New Hampshire is leading the call of President Obama’s National Export Initiative, having increased overseas sales by 43 percent - more than double the national average.
Ambassador Kirk explained that part of his role as the United States Trade Representative is to help open markets for American businesses. He also described how, before coming the Trade Representative as Mayor of Dallas he was able to gain insight into how trade policy can have a direct impact on small businesses in particular, and he urged New Hampshire small business owners to tap into online trade tools available to them, including www.ustr.gov and www.export.gov.
In addition, Ambassador Kirk discussed the Administration’s ongoing efforts to work with Congress to pass trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia, as well as the importance of reauthorizing the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.
He highlighted how the Obama Administration has put an added emphasis on enforcing U.S. trade rights and cited recent victories, including the largest WTO case ever involving European subsidies for Airbus, as well as a settlement ending Chinese subsidies for wind energy equipment.
