WASHINGTON -- Small manufacturers can boost U.S. exports, helping reduce the trade deficit and foster job creation, a small manufacturer told the House Committee on Small Business Thursday.
Charles Wetherington, President of BTE Technologies, Inc., speaking for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), told the committee that the U.S. exported $982 billion in manufactured goods in 2007, 60 percent of all U.S. exports of goods and services.
“Given the likelihood of continued large imports of oil and foreign manufacturer goods, we need a huge ramp-up of our exports, most of which will have to be manufactured goods,” Wetherington added. “We need a national export expansion strategy designed to achieve a large and sustained increase in our exports.”
Wetherington noted that the vast majority of small manufacturers don’t export because they lack the expertise and resources to access foreign markets. He also added that every federal dollar invested generates $100 in exports.
According to Wetherington, since 1997, the Market Development Cooperator Program has generated $2.65 billion in exports while spending less than $20 million.
“I estimate that amount of exports generated additional tax revenue to the U.S. government of almost $100 million, not a bad return on the taxpayers’ investment,” he said.
For more on Wetherington’s testimony, click here.
