White House Launches Export-Redoubling Strategy
Hoping to bolster competitiveness abroad and spur job growth, President Obama last week laid out a plan to double United States exports through tougher enforcement of trade laws, increased government advocacy and more credit assistance for small and midsized companies. The broad effort marks the first time the U.S. is launching a single, comprehensive strategy to promote American exports, Obama said at the Export-Import Bank's annual conference.

The president signed an executive order to "marshal the full resources of the United States government behind American businesses that sell their goods and services abroad" under his National Export Initiative. Obama wants U.S. exports doubled in five years to support 2 million new jobs in the world's largest economy, which is battling nearly double-digit unemployment after enduring its worst recession in decades.

As part of the broad initiative, Obama laid out a number of measures he said would help boost exports, including "the creation of a new $2 billion Export-Import Bank credit facility to help small and medium-sized businesses increase overseas sales," Reuters reports. "The export strategy will strive to improve access to financing for domestic exporters and help them promote their products overseas as the United States moves to beef up its export drive mostly in advanced emerging nations such as China, Brazil and India," according to Agence France-Presse.

Obama said he is creating a new Export Promotion Cabinet drawn from government departments including Treasury, State, Commerce and Agriculture to focus on the goal of doubling exports. The group is to meet for the first time in April, according to Reuters.

The executive order will also relaunch the President's Export Council, a private-sector advisory panel founded in 1973 by former President Richard Nixon for the private sector to give its trade views. Obama named Boeing President and Chief Executive Jim McNerney and Xerox CEO Ursula Burns to lead the council.

The president also promised to do a better job than his predecessors in ensuring that other countries honor commitments they have made to open their markets. He said he would insist on trade agreements that protect worker rights and the environment.

"Economists pointed to several hurdles that must be overcome, including undervalued currencies in some countries and an abundance of tariffs and protectionist pressures," the New York Times says. "United States exporters also face tough price competition, as American goods are often more expensive because production costs are higher.

"The Chamber of Commerce says doubling exports in five years is an achievable goal. It happened in the 1970s and early 1980s, and almost occurred in the five years ending in 2008," the Wall Street Journal notes (subscription required). "Doing it again will hinge on the dollar's strength, economic growth in key markets and policies adopted in Washington."

Trade Gap Narrows
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in January as imports and exports declined and overall volume fell for the first time in five months, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Thursday.

The trade deficit shrank 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted $37.3 billion, down from a revised $39.9 billion in December. Total January imports dropped 1.7 percent to $180 billion, while exports slipped 0.3 percent to $142.7 billion.

The unexpected narrowing of the deficit was partly due to a decline in crude oil imports to their weakest level since February 1999, at 245 million barrels.

The deficit between what the U.S. exports and what it imports remains well above the low point of a $25.76 billion deficit hit last May.

Retail Container Traffic Accelerates
Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to be up 13 percent in March compared with the same month a year ago, the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates said last week.

According to the companies' monthly Global Port Tracker report, U.S. ports handled 1.08 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) in January, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was up 2 percent from January 2009, and was the second consecutive month to show a year-over-year improvement after December broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines.

February container volume was estimated at 1.08 million TEU, a 29 percent increase over unusually low numbers in February 2009. March is forecast at 1.09 million TEU, up 13 percent from the previous year.

The first half of 2010 is expected to total 6.9 million TEU, up 17 percent from last year's 5.9 million TEU. Double-digit increases are expected to continue through the summer as the U.S. economy begins to improve.

Manufacturers Advised to Change Branding Strategies
The Conference Board says that the economic recession, cases of unethical corporate behavior and the proliferation of social media technology have all contributed in large part to "a much 'smaller' place" and, as a result, will require companies to adapt their brand strategy to reflect the changes.

Companies "must tend their brands more diligently and painstakingly than ever," according to a new report, Corporate Brands - Meeting the Challenges of Changing Times, from The Conference Board Council on Corporate Brand Management.

In the future, consumers will be more educated buyers and have much less brand loyalty or trust than before. "Marketers will need to communicate to their CEOs the link between the brand and revenue and customer preservation," Jeffrey Burchill, CFO of commercial and industrial property insurance provider FM Global, said in a statement. Branding professionals need to focus on strategy and impact related to revenue and customer retention in the short term and potential growth in the long term, Burchill said.

"Talk the language that the C-suite and especially the CFO understands, not the jargon of marketing and brand positioning," Burchill said.