EXIM’s Support For American Innovation Globally Restated At Webinar

By Emmanuel Oluebube, Correspondent UK

Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed  participated in a Council on Competitiveness virtual dialogue with more than 40 members of the Council’s “Technology Leadership and Strategy Initiative,” during  which she highlighted EXIM’s role in advancing American innovation by helping US businesses export their “Made in the USA” products around the world.

The virtual dialogue attendees represented a range of businesses, universities, and research institutions from across the country.   Others participating in the discussion included:

• Council on Competitiveness President and CEO, Deborah Wince-Smith.
• Council on Competitiveness Chairman and CEO of Life Biosciences, Dr. Mehmood Khan.
• Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director or the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Walter G. Copan.
• Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Alan R. Shaffer.
• Council on Competitiveness Executive Vice President, Chad Evans.

Chairman Reed also discussed EXIM’s new Programme on China and Transformational Exports, established in EXIM’s historic reauthorization, which is intended to help level the playing field for US exporters and workers by directly neutralizing export subsidies for competing goods and services offered by the People’s Republic of China. In May, EXIM launched its “Strengthening American Competitiveness” initiative, beginning with a series of teleconferences with American businesses and stakeholders.

“The Council on Competitiveness has worked for many years to jump-start American productivity, and I was honored to join this esteemed group to focus on how the U.S. government can support innovation on the global stage,” Chairman Reed said. “The future for American jobs lies in technologically advanced industries, and the Council’s expertise, under President Wince-Smith’s leadership, is key as we at EXIM focus on supporting US exporters and their innovation, employment, and technology standards. EXIM is very serious about making sure high-quality ‘Made in the USA’ goods and services can fully compete and win in the increasingly difficult global marketplace.”

“The Council on Competitiveness — and our community of chief technology officers across industry, academia, and the national laboratory enterprise — affirms the critically important role the Export-Import Bank of the United States plays in our innovation economy, helping US-made goods and services create value and thrive in the global marketplace,” said President Wince-Smith. “Chairman Reed’s efforts on this front, as well as her priorities to advance the comparative leadership of the United States with China, and to support US innovation and employment in disruptive technologies — like AI, biotechnology, 5G, high performance and quantum computing, and advanced microelectronics — will shape America’s future productivity and inclusive prosperity.”

Chairman Reed also outlined the agency’s COVID-19 relief measures and reaffirmed EXIM’s continuing commitment to supporting US businesses of all sizes that export as the United States reopens and the American economy rebounds.

President Wince-Smith also serves on EXIM’s Advisory Committee, which advises EXIM on its policies and programmes, in particular on the extent to which the agency provides competitive financing to support American jobs through exports. At the June 5, 2020, EXIM Advisory Committee public meeting, Wince-Smith stated that “our country should be at the forefront of the technology and services of the future, which change right before our eyes. We need a 21st century manufacturing and services sector in the United States, and our businesses have to have the tools to compete.” Founded in 1986, the nonpartisan Council on Competitiveness — a membership network of CEOs, university presidents, labor leaders, and national laboratory directors — works to advance its mission of enhancing US productivity and raising the standard of living for all Americans.