U.S. needs ‘the R.I. genius’
SMITHFIELD – Deputy United States Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis told a room full of business leaders Wednesday that America needs Rhode Island to play a role in building international trade.
The lunchtime keynote speaker at Bryant University’s 25th annual World Trade Day, Marantis said Rhode Island led the way in world trade dating back to the days of ships departing the state laden with manufactured goods. As the global economy shifts, Marantis said there is a place for Rhode Island and its researchers that create and market new products and services.
“America needs the Rhode Island genius today,” Marantis said, pointing to the state’s companies that export know-how around the globe.
His comments came against the backdrop of the National Export Initiative, which aims to double American exports by 2015 by removing trade barriers and lending assistance to businesses. President Barack Obama signed an executive order in March to start the initiative.
“A critical component of stimulating economic growth in the United States is ensuring that U.S. businesses can actively participate in international markets by increasing their exports of goods, services and agricultural products,” the order says. “Improved export performance will, in turn, create good, high-paying jobs.”
Earlier Wednesday Harvey Bronstein, an international economist with the U.S. Small Business Administration, speaking during a panel discussion about renewing American manufacturing, said that exporting is on track to reach an all-time high of nearly $2 trillion, or the equivalent to 13 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Exports as a proportion of the overall economy grew each year from 2003 to 2008 before falling in 2009 in the midst of a recession, Bronstein said.
But Bronstein said trade is recovering and the currency exchange rate and economic growth in other parts of the world remain in the United States’ favor and create the “perfect storm” for exporting.
Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said Rhode Island businesses have a chance to play a role by exporting to rising nations, especially in Asia.
“It’s a business opportunity because in that part of the world there’s a few billion people aspiring to our standard of living,” he said.
R.I. Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Keith Stokes, who like Carcieri spoke at the event’s lunch gathering, said that about 300 Rhode Island businesses exported about $2 billion in goods last year.
“We’re still manufacturing products but we’re also manufacturing ideas,” Stokes said, pointing to the state’s emphasis on developing a “knowledge economy” centered on research supported by the state’s institutions of higher education.
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