Commerce Department Announces Three Initiatives to Assist U.S. Firms in Exporting to China
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has unveiled three initiatives, the China Business Information Center, American Trade Centers and the Global Supply Chain Initiative, intended to assist U.S. companies interested in exporting to China.
The China Business Information Center (BIC) offers U.S. companies access to counseling with trade specialists in the United States, referrals to U.S. Commercial Service officers in China, and helps channel trade leads to clients through U.S. Export Assistance Centers. The BIC consists of a toll free telephone number that the public can use to speak with a China specialist, a Web site with China-focused information and export tools, and a series of outreach events planned throughout the United States.
The BIC's Web site at www.export.gov/china features a variety of information that U.S. exporters can use to undertake the following activities:
- Promoting products and services to qualified Chinese buyers, distributors and agents;
- Understanding Chinese laws, regulations and customs;
- Collecting market research;
- Developing new or additional business relationships in China;
- Initiating the basic steps to enter the Chinese market; and
- Resolving trade disputes.
The Global Supply Chain Initiative is aimed to help U.S. small businesses identify global supply chains that will take American manufactured goods overseas. As part of this initiative, the Commercial Service will conduct a series of sector specific trade missions involving tier 2 and tier 3 suppliers to major manufacturing centers around the world. The first will be an auto parts trade mission this spring to China. In addition, Commercial Service officers in key manufacturing cities will reach out to large non-U.S. multinational companies to identify the companies' needs and inform U.S. small businesses of these potential opportunities.
The Commerce Department will be holding a series of outreach events throughout the United States in the coming months to provide U.S. companies with information on how they can enter the Chinese market. The schedule of BIC outreach events can be found on the Trade Events section of export.gov/china.
According to U.S. Commerce Department trade statistics for the first half of 2004, U.S. exports to China are up 36 percent over the same period in 2003, making China one of the fastest-growing U.S. export markets, and the sixth-largest U.S. export market overall.
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