THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

The Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), under the leadership of Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor, released yesterday its fourth annual report to Congress on our National Export Strategy. This strategy was developed in 1993 to ensure that U.S. workers and businesses are able to profit from export opportunities in markets throughout the world. Today, the United States has regained its position as the world?s most competitive nation, while export growth has fueled nearly one-third of our economic growth and created 1.5 million new jobs since 1992.

This year's report, which is the product of the twenty federal agencies that are members of the TPCC, covers both our policy goals and concrete efforts. Its focus is on the Administration's response to foreign competitive practices that threaten fair and competitive market access -- from concessional financing and export subsidies to bribery and corruption. The report lays out a clear strategy to help U.S. firms -- especially our smaller businesses, which represent the most dynamic sector of our economy -- meet today's challenges in the world market and benefit from the enormous economic opportunities in the emerging and recently war-torn economies that will be a key to our economic future.

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