Small Businesses Account for 98 Percent of all U.S. Exporters, Says Deputy USTR Sapiro
While trade barriers affect all businesses, they pose “particular challenges” for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and “we are ready to focus on measures that disproportionately affect SMEs, especially those that impose additional costs, and thereby hamper SME export performance,”…
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said Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro. At a workshop on SMEs organized under the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council in Rome Thursday, she said SMEs with limited resources often find it difficult to meet foreign standards, testing and certification requirements. In the services sector, insufficient intellectual property protection “poses a relatively larger risk to firms with limited resources,” she said. Services SMEs also find it more difficult to establish affiliates in foreign markets, where preferences for local providers can make it more burdensome for SMEs. Small businesses account for nearly 98 percent of all U.S. exporters, she said. The value of exports by U.S. small businesses in 2010 was more than $380 billion, a 24 percent increase over 2009. “These trends are positive, but I believe we can do better,” Sapiro said.