Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, recognizing the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. More than half of Americans either own or work for small businesses, which are responsible for two-thirds of all new jobs created in the United States each year. See President Obama’s message celebrating this year’s National Small Business Week here:
Moreover, nearly 300,000 small businesses across all fifty states are finding customers abroad by exporting Made-in-America goods and services, expanding their revenues and supporting good jobs at home. Studies confirm that small businesses that export grow faster, add jobs faster, and pay higher wages than small companies in the same sector that serve purely domestic markets. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is working to open foreign markets, reduce barriers to trade, and enforce trade agreements so that U.S. companies of all sizes can export to more customers around the world. USTR’s trade policy agenda can particularly help small businesses boost exports by tackling tariff barriers, easing customs procedures, strengthening intellectual property protections, and addressing services barriers that are especially difficult for smaller companies, such as requirements to staff a foreign office.
This Friday, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Small Business Christina Sevilla will speak on a panel entitled “Expanding Your Business through Exporting” at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week 2013. Find out more about National Small Business Week events around the country at http://www.sba.gov/nsbw/nsbw.
