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The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

U.S. companies face a wide variety of obstacles and issues in the international arena. Different regions of the world offer unique challenges and diverse barriers to the exporters of American goods and services. The enclosed three white papers review some of the broader issues that most U.S. industries face while engaging in international commerce in Europe, Japan, and the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union. In these papers, we offer recommendations to help U.S. companies to compete and win in the global economy.

Despite the success of U.S. exporters to the European Union market, U.S. government action is needed to improve export performance. Our white paper on Europe focuses on how to reduce European market access barriers, how to match European Union efforts in high-level advocacy for exports abroad, and how to improve U.S. government trade advocacy resources targeted at Europe.

Many major U.S. exporting industries have been unable to achieve the same success in the Japanese market that they have achieved in other markets, despite their competitiveness on price and quality. Our Japan white paper ranks the following issues as priorities for U.S. business: structural barriers to market access, Japanese trade distortions in other export markets, and the implementation of recent bilateral agreements on Japanese government procurement.

The NIS represent a potentially enormous U.S. export market. Despite this potential, U.S. companies have been reluctant to participate in the NIS market due to a wide variety of regulatory, economic, and cultural barriers. Our white paper on the NIS highlights three major barriers to U.S. exports: arbitrary and onerous tax and tariff laws, inadequate protection of intellectual property rights, and lack of access to market information and deal financing.

Your Export Council strongly believes that exports are the fuel for tomorrow's growth for America. We must expand our nation's export activities by opening up markets and continuing to build on gains we have achieved in other markets. Given fair access, Americans can meet and beat the competition in global markets.

Sincerely,
 
 

C. Michael Armstrong                                     Elizabeth Coleman
Chairman                                                         Vice Chairman

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