I recently joined Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper and Jerry Abramson, director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, for a tour of Goodlettsville-based manufacturer Des-Case and a discussion of how exports to overseas markets promote U.S. job growth.
The Des-Case visit comes as President Obama is proposing expanded trade promotion authority to three of America’s top four export markets: Canada, Mexico and the U.K. The White House is also asking Congress to approve new trade agreements with the European Union and 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Des-Case has collaborated with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Nashville Export Assistance Center to expand its reach to markets in Central and South America, and, more recently, to Australia and the Philippines.
Nashville is among the top 40 exporting metro areas in the U.S., exporting nearly $9 billion of locally produced goods around the globe. The Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) saw exports grow by more than 35 percent from 2012 to 2013, the most recent year for available statistics. More than 1,600 companies in the Nashville MSA are exporters of products or services to foreign markets; 82 percent of those are classified as small or midsized companies with fewer than 500 employees.
Excellent resources for export assistance exist in our region. If your company is interested in doing business abroad, please feel free to contact me for more information.
