1. What is the best market for U.S. goods and services?
a. Germany
b. Russia
c. China
d. Brazil
e. United States
f. All of the above
Answer: F
U.S. industry needs customers, and it so happens that 95 percent of the world’s consumers lie outside the United States. Moreover, 87 percent of the world’s economic growth over the next five years will take place outside the United States, according to the IMF, and 73 percent of global consumption this year will take place outside the United States, according to J.P. Morgan.
2. How many American jobs depend on exports?
a. 5 million
b. 15 million
c. 25 million
d. more than 50 million
Answer: D
Millions of American Jobs Depend on Exports
• More than 50 million American workers are employed by businesses that engage in international trade, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. One in five manufacturing jobs depends on exports, and one in every three acres on American farms is planted for export markets.
•Whether businesses are large or small, studies show that firms that export tend to grow faster, hire more, and pay better wages than those that do not.
3. What percentage of companies that export are classified as small or medium sized?
a. 10%
b. 30%
c. 15%
d. 97%
Answer: D
Small Businesses Can Be Big Exporters
•More than a quarter million U.S. companies have gone into exporting, and an amazing 97%of these are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). America’s SMEs export more than $300 billion worth of goods every year–nearly a third of all U.S. merchandise exports!
•But that’s just one in every 100 of America’s small and mid-sized businesses. Imagine if we could double or triple the number of companies that export.
4. How should President Obama tackle his stated goal of doubling exports in five years?
a. Pass the pending FTA Colombia
b. Pass the pending FTA with Panama
c. Pass the pending FTA South Korea
d. Do nothing
Answer: A, B, and C.
Trade Agreements Are Job Agreements
•Over the past 25 years, the United States has negotiated free trade agreements (FTAs) with 17 countries around the globe. While those 17 countries represent just 7.5%of global GDP, in 2009 they purchased more than 40%of U.S. exports. Some of these countries are small, but FTAs make big markets even out of small economies.
•In fact, the United States has a trade surplus with its 17 FTA partners in manufactured goods, services, and agricultural products.
• For those worried about the U.S. trade deficit, trade agreements are clearly the solution–not the problem. We need more of these agreements.
When it comes to exports and jobs, the links are clear.
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