1: Competitiveness and Economic Growth

Maximize U.S. competitiveness and enable economic growth for American industries, workers, and consumers

Other Information:

The Department’s first goal is to encourage and support economic expansion and to increase the prosperity of all Americans, regardless of their geographical location or ethnic origin. In support of disadvantaged individuals and communities, the Department promotes private enterprise and job creation in economically distressed communities. The Department also promotes private enterprise within minority communities. The Department is committed to free trade by opening and expanding foreign markets for U.S. goods and services and improving U.S. export performance. The Department devotes significant effort to benefit the American public by increasing market access for U.S. businesses. Nontariff trade barriers frequently impact U.S. firms’ access to markets, examples of these barriers that impede market entry include technical standards, intellectual property issues, excessive regulation, as well as certification and testing requirements. The Department advocates on behalf of U.S. firms to open markets impacted by these types of barriers. The Department promotes U.S. export growth through the development and implementation of the National Export Strategy (NES) produced by the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC)chaired by the Secretary of Commerce. The Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has embraced public/private partnerships as a mechanism to leverage federal resources. The Department partners with private sector service providers that can reach—and are trusted by—potential exporters. Current partners, FedEx, eBay, and PNC Bank, have massive client databases and a profit motive to encourage clients to export. ITA services represent value to those clients. These partners feature ITA trade promotion services on their Web sites and in their newsletters. This enables ITA to conduct hundreds of joint outreach events with them and trains their staff on ITA services. The Department also ensures a “level playing field” for U.S. firms by combating predatory trading practices through free market trade negotiations, analysis of international and domestic competitiveness factors, and through case-by-case advocacy. The Department ensures that export controls do not place U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage in world markets by eliminating outdated controls and streamlining the process for obtaining export licenses for products that remain under export controls. These continual improvements are being made while being mindful of the dual-use nature of some commercial technologies and the national security implications of those technologies. The Department also provides decision makers with valuable statistical information related to the U.S. economy and its population. Sound business forecasting and understanding the strength and direction of the Nation’s economy depend on economic and demographic statistics. The Department leads national efforts to continually improve these statistics. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) works to develop the methodologies and procedures to incorporate intangibles such as research and development (R&D) into the Nation’s accounts over the next decade. The Census Bureau seeks to fundamentally change the way the federal government conducts the Decennial Census. As part of this effort, the Census Bureau now uses the American Community Survey (ACS) to produce detailed demographic data on an annual basis. This allows the Census Bureau to remove the long form questionnaire from the 2010 Census.

Objective(s):

1.1: Economic Development and Exports

1.2: Growth, Trade, and Security

1.3: Economic and Demographic Data

1.4: Small Manufacturers

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