> EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
>
> ANNUAL CONFERENCE
>
> LUNCHEON
>
> SPEAKER: U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE DONALD EVANS
>
> Friday, May 3, 2002
>
> Omni Shoreham Hotel
>
> Washington, D.C.
>
> \[TRANSCRIPT PREPARED FROM A TAPE RECORDING.\]
>
> [P]{.underline} [R]{.underline} [O]{.underline} [C]{.underline}
> [E]{.underline} [E]{.underline} [D]{.underline} [I]{.underline}
> [N]{.underline} [G]{.underline} [S]{.underline}
>
> MR. AGUIRRE: Good afternoon. It is good to see here you again.
>
> As you can imagine, there\'s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that
> a lot of people don\'t see, but when it all goes well, we\'ve got to
> recognize that many people have contributed to make it all work out.
>
> I really want to take a minute to thank the volunteers from Ex-Im Bank
> who gave of their time to help make this a successful event,
> particularly Public Affairs, and Cheryl Crispen is the leader of that
> team, as well as the entire Office of Public Affairs, needs to be
> recognized. But I know Cheryl would appreciate my recognizing one
> individual, in particular, and that is Nicky Shepherd.
>
> \[Applause.\]
>
> MR. AGUIRRE: If it had not been for Nicky\'s attention to detail, and
> perseverance and not taking no for an answer from time to time, I
> assure you it would not be nearly as good as it is today.
>
> Also, I need to recognize the Congressional External Affairs group,
> with Sarah Hildebrand being at the lead of that team, for all of their
> work in coordinating our wonderful speakers. I know you appreciated
> our speakers yesterday, as well as today, from the Hill. I want to
> recognize Sarah and her team.
>
> \[Applause.\]
>
> MR. AGUIRRE: Well, as we continue our regular business, I would like
> to recall the tragic events of September 11th, and to acknowledge the
> countless victims and heroes that were personally involved. Ex-Im Bank
> was co-located with the Department of Commerce at the World Trade
> Center. Our New York staff, with John Lavelle, Sharon Hess, Tom
> Cummings and Jennifer Drakes, performed admirably throughout that
> ordeal and beyond.
>
> I know that many of you here today have your own painful links to the
> tragedy of that day. Let us pause for a moment to reflect on the price
> we pay for freedom, remember the victims of terrorism and to also
> honor the heroic men and women who rose to the occasion and made us
> proud.
>
> \[Moment of silence.\]
>
> MR. AGUIRRE: Thank you very much.
>
> Now, on to the main event. I\'ve got to tell you I must be living
> right because just a few days ago our next speaker was scheduled to be
> out of town, and thus unable to join us at the Ex-Im Bank Annual
> Conference. But he juggled his incredibly busy schedule and managed to
> be here today.
>
> I have the distinct honor to welcome my fellow Texan, U.S. Secretary
> of Commerce Donald Evans. Secretary Evans, the thirty-fourth Secretary
> to lead the Department of Commerce, heads a diverse Cabinet agency of
> some 40,000 employees. His agency ranges in scope from international
> trade administration, which includes the U.S. and Foreign Commercial
> Services, to the Bureau of the Census and the National Oceanic and
> Atmospheric Administration.
>
> I\'d like to take a moment to also thank the many Commerce Department
> officials who have participated in this year\'s annual conference, and
> earlier, today, Maria Cino, Assistant Secretary and Director of the
> U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, hosted a panel on how to make various
> government agencies help business exports. Additionally, several areas
> of the Commerce Department were represented with exhibit booths.
>
> A former successful businessman, Secretary Evans began his career in
> the oil fields of West Texas, as we say there, the oil business. By
> the time he was 33, he was President of Tom Brown, Inc., with 1,800
> employees and a market value of \$2 billion.
>
> Don Evans has never wavered in his belief in the free enterprise
> system. American business has brought unprecedented prosperity to the
> people of our country, and he sees his mission at the Commerce
> Department as helping to foster an economic climate in which U.S.
> businesses and workers can succeed in the global economy.
>
> He often says that the top item on his agenda at the Commerce
> Department is trade. As a result, he has been an active advocate for
> President Bush in his effort to secure trade promotion authority from
> Congress. He has tirelessly promoted U.S. exports and sought to open
> markets to U.S. goods and services, and he\'s dedicated to providing a
> level playing field for U.S. companies doing business around the
> world, something that we at Ex-Im Bank know a thing or two as well.
>
> I know that Don Evans describes himself as an optimist and, at some
> level, I believe that it\'s a trait that we all share, for to succeed
> in business, you pretty much have to be an optimist. He also believes
> that life\'s highest calling is to serve others, which is why he has
> been active in a myriad of worthwhile organizations. I\'ll tell you,
> Don and I shared a distinction of having been appointed by former
> Governor Bush, now President Bush, to the boards of regents at
> different university systems in Texas.
>
> He went to the University of Texas system, Hook and Horns, and after
> the University of Houston System\--go \"Cougs\"\--we both serve as
> Chairs of our respective university systems, and except for being
> fierce competitors in intercollegiate athletics, Don and I serve the
> people of Texas by jointly advancing higher education in that great
> state.
>
> His commitment to excellence and service to others are but two of the
> many reasons why President Bush chose him to serve his country as
> Secretary of Commerce.
>
> Please help me welcome my good friend, Secretary Evans.
>
> \[Applause.\]
>
> SECRETARY EVANS: Eduardo, thank you. It\'s a delight to be here with a
> fellow Texan. Eduardo and I get back there every chance we get, don\'t
> we. I\'ll tell you, it\'s a great place to spend part of one\'s life.
>
> First, what a crowd. I mean, when I walked into the room, I kind of
> said, wow. I appreciate all of you being here, those from different
> parts of the world, those from America. It\'s a delight to have this
> opportunity to come visit with you. You know, they put a lot of fancy
> titles on you. I mean, you come up here, and you\'re Secretary, and
> you\'re called the honorable this and that, and I always am reminded
> of the story of the first day I was here was January 20, 2001. I was
> trying to explain to my 12-year-old son what I was going to be doing
> because he didn\'t know what this adventure was going to be all about.
> So I wanted to go explain the Department of Commerce to him.
>
> Eduardo talked about the many responsibilities you have as Secretary
> of Commerce, and so I took him to the Department on January 20th,
> which was Inauguration Day, and knocked on the back door. And the
> security guard came to the door, and I said, \"I\'m Don Evans, and it
> appears I\'m going to be Secretary of Commerce of the United States of
> America.\"
>
> And the security guard kind of looked me over, looked me up and down
> and said to me, \"I don\'t think so.\"
>
> \[Laughter.\]
>
> SECRETARY EVANS: And I said, \"Well, let me see. Let me spend a little
> more time maybe talking to you about this. And so we visited, and I
> asked her to call maybe somebody or two and finally convince her that
> maybe I was going to be sworn in that evening, and so she allowed me
> in the building.
>
> I took my son through the building. I wanted to show him the office,
> and I was talking to him, in fact, the first thing I talked to him
> about was trade, because I do think it\'s certainly one of the
> principal focuses of our department, certainly of mine, because I
> understand the great importance of it as this world continues to move
> into globalization and expand trade.
>
> But as I went on talking about the responsibilities, talking about
> Census, and talking about Patents and Trademarks, and talked about
> Technology, and talked about NOAA, which is the National Oceanic and
> Atmospheric Administration, which is a pretty long title, and so I
> kind of boiled it down to one of the real important parts of NOAA is
> the weather service because all of the weather that is broadcast
> across our stations across America comes from the Department of
> Commerce or NOAA or the Weather Service there.
>
> So I explained to him, when you go home at night, and turn on the TV,
> and you see the weather for the next day so you know what school
> clothes to wear, the weatherman is giving you information that\'s
> coming from the Department of Commerce.
>
> And so he went home, and he told all of his friends that his, all of
> his fifth grade buddies, that he was going to have to move to
> Washington because his father was no longer going to run this
> multi-billion-dollar oil and gas corporation any more, he was going to
> Washington to be a weatherman.
>
> \[Laughter.\]
>
> SECRETARY EVANS: So, when they put some of these fancy titles on you,
> that helps bring it down in perspective.
>
> It has been a remarkable 16 months, and I first want to thank Eduardo
> for your extraordinary leadership with the Ex-Im Bank, so important,
> stepping in after the untimely death of our dear friend, John Robson,
> an extraordinary public service. You\'re also an extraordinary public
> servant in the State of Texas, the United States of America, touching
> the world. Thank you, Eduardo, very, very much. As I said, it\'s great
> to be up here with a fellow Texan.
>
> In your travels, you pick up a lot of interesting kind of stories, and
> you get a feel for the world. And I have had a little feel of the
> world in the last 15 months. I\'ve traveled to a number of countries.
> I just got back from China. But I was particularly moved by a trip to
> Russia last fall. A young Russian businessman came up to me, and I
> would judge him to be about 36 years old. And he said to me, \"Mr.
> Secretary, I figured out about six years ago that if I bought a loaf
> of bread in Moscow, and I moved it to St. Petersburg, I could make a
> profit doing that,\" and so he started to buy more than a loaf of
> bread. He started buying produce and moving it from Moscow to St.
> Petersburg.
>
> Six years later, he employs 1,200 people. He has a grocery store chain
> across Russia. And he said to me, \"You know, Mr. Secretary, it\'s
> kind of like I\'m living the American dream.\" A pretty interesting
> comment. They all know about it. It\'s all the same dream, though. We
> all share the same dream. We all have the same, common goals, the same
> common purpose, the same common hopes.
>
> And so when I listened to him, I really had a very personal feel how
> important it is that this country, America, share our dreams. It ought
> to be an oath of ours that we\'re going to share our dreams with the
> rest of the world, and I don\'t know of any better way to do that than
> to do it through trade. I don\'t know anything more important, as to
> the future of this world, than leading this world toward open and free
> trade. I think that is the key to leading this world toward a world
> that lives in peace and prosperity.
>
> So, in my remarks, that\'s what I\'m going to focus on. I\'m going to
> focus on the President\'s commitment to opening up new markets for our
> exporters, and our workers, and our businesses in this country. As
> Eduardo said, the only way he\'s able to really pursue that is through
> trade promotion authority.
>
> The second comment, the second part I want to talk about, is the
> importance of our commitment to making sure that our exporters are in
> a position to compete effectively around the world as these markets
> open up.
>
> But, first, on trade promotion authority. In terms of trade, I would
> say the timing of this conference really could not be better, and not
> just because the House and the Senate passed the Ex-Im Bank\'s
> reauthorization this last week, but because, yes, the Senate is now
> focused on trade promotion authority. Fundamental, fundamental to
> creating the conditions in this world where our economy can grow, that
> you can do what you do so well, which is to create the wealth. All we
> do in government is try and create the conditions, the environment, so
> those out in the private sector can do what they do so well, which is
> create the wealth.
>
> And when you think about trade promotion authority and America leading
> on it, it\'s a fundamental question. Do you want the global economy to
> grow at a higher rate or do you want it to grow at a lower rate? I
> mean, I don\'t know what the difference is. I don\'t know if it\'s an
> additional 50 basis points or 100 percent or 1 percent, 100 basis
> points, what it is. All I know is that opening up trade around the
> world means that our economy will grow at a faster rate. And so when
> you look at American economy, you think of a \$10-trillion economy.
> You put half a percent on that, 1 percent on that, and it\'s a pretty
> big number.
>
> When you look at the global economy and think about \$40-trillion
> global economy, and you say, through opening up trade it means our
> growth will be half a percent higher, 1 percent higher, it\'s a pretty
> big number.
>
> And so I say to the Senate, it\'s past time to pass trade promotion
> authority. I say to the leadership of the Senate that it\'s past time
> to pass trade promotion authority. Instead of putting further
> obstacles in the way, we\'ve got to get on with it, give the President
> tools that he needs because we\'re losing the battle, America is.
> We\'re on the sidelines right now, while others continue to move
> ahead. For the past 100 years, for the past century, the United States
> was the leader in world trade. We were constantly pressing for open
> markets and freer trade.
>
> Today, we can\'t even really take a meaningful seat at the table. The
> President\'s authority to negotiate a trade agreement, what used to be
> called fast track authority, now it\'s called trade promotion
> authority, lapsed some eight years ago.
>
> What\'s happened in the meantime? I\'ll tell you what the statistics
> are today. There are 150 free trade agreements in the world. The
> European Union is a party to 31 of them, Mexico is a party to 3 of
> them\--to 10 of them\--we are a party to 3 of them. We increased our
> number by 50 percent when we signed\--went from 2 to 3\--when we
> signed a free trade agreement this last year with Jordan.
>
> Just last week the EU signed another free trade agreement with Chile,
> joining Canada, Argentina, Brazil, other countries that have
> preferential trade agreements with Chile. What does it mean? Let me
> get it down to practical terms. If you manufacture a tractor here in
> the United States and you export that tractor to Chile, then the
> tariffs on that tractor, depending on the size of it, are anywhere
> from \$15,000 to \$25,000 for that tractor. If you manufacture it in
> Brazil, the tariffs are going to be anywhere from \$3,000 to \$5,000.
> If you manufacture that tractor in Canada, the tariffs are zero. So
> you get a feel for how American workers are being left behind.
>
> The benefits of trade, though, are not just for the American
> businesses here. They go beyond that. They also affect our consumers
> and think about it from a consumer perspective. Lowering trade
> barriers is just like a tax cut. The combined efforts of the Uruguay
> Round and the NAFTA Round through studies suggests that an average
> family of four benefitted from that to the tune of about \$2,000 a
> year.
>
> If you look forward at the World Trade Organization\'s new round of
> negotiations and you think about what that could mean for the global
> economy in America, we would say that could lead to a benefit of some
> \$2,500 per year per family. Go back again to what I said about the
> global economy and just think about what it can mean to a
> \$40-trillion economy if you\'re able to increase the growth rate some
> half a percent or 1 percent or 1.5 percent.
>
> So, if the argument is so compelling, and indeed I\'m one that
> absolutely believes that it is, what\'s holding up the parade? Why
> aren\'t we moving forward with this? The fact is that TPA, trade
> promotion authority, right now is being held hostage to a bill that
> would limit the choices, limit the health care choices for dislocated
> workers, for laid-off workers.
>
> Senator Daschle wants to expand what has been an extremely useful
> government retirement retraining program known as trade adjustment
> assistance into nothing more than cash grants for a favored few. The
> amendment includes carve-ins, a few special set-asides for workers in
> a few industries, at the expense of all American workers.
>
> The President believes that we need an effective program to help
> workers\--there is no question about that\--those workers who have
> lost their jobs due to changes in our economy.
>
> And the administration has been working hard to narrow the differences
> that we have on just what should be in the trade adjustment assistance
> package, but the goal should be improving the skills of American
> workers, getting them back to work, not hand out, but hand up, do they
> need support, do they need help in retraining? Yes, they do. Job
> placement? Yes, they do. Some financial assistance along the way? Of
> course, they do.
>
> But Americans also want the people and policies to be put in front of
> politics. So I think it\'s time to get on with the vote on TPA. If you
> voted straight up on TPA, it would have north of 70 votes. So it is
> clear that that bill is prepared to pass. And so, again, I think it\'s
> time to vote on TPA, and give this President the authority he needs to
> push free trade forward all around the world.
>
> As you negotiate trade agreements and you get them into place, then
> it\'s certainly important that we fill in behind it, that that\'s only
> half the battle. Once the trade agreement is in place, then you have
> to follow through and make sure you have the necessary export
> promotion efforts, as well as the commitment to compliance, to assist,
> and support and help our exporters.
>
> There is nothing more important than make sure that, as you expand
> free trade, we\'ve got to make sure that there is a level playing
> field for everybody, we\'re all playing by the same rules. So America
> will push that very hard and will be very active when it comes to
> ensuring, that is, we continue to build on this global trading system
> and the rules, that we\'re all playing by the same rules.
>
> Let me give you an example on compliance. China\'s accession to the
> WTO represents clearly the most significant market opening initiative
> since NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, but the agreement with China will
> only be as good as China\'s compliance with the commitments and their
> willingness to promote the interests of American exporters in the
> Chinese market.
>
> Given that fact, we are focusing certainly very intensely on China as
> a market. I just returned from leading a delegation of 15 business
> leaders to that market, and we stopped in Beijing, we went to
> Shanghai, we talked about the opportunities that WTO membership meant
> to these companies, as well as all businesses and exporters in
> America.
>
> I also met with my Chinese counterparts while I was there to convey
> the important message of timely and transparent implementation of each
> of China\'s commitments to the WTO. Three weeks prior to my trip, we
> had a team over there led by Under Secretary Grant Aldonas that was
> also delivering this same message. Before that, Bill Lash, who is the
> Assistant Secretary of Market Access and Compliance was there.
>
> I hope to get back this fall. I will get back this fall. When we\'re
> committed, we\'re committed. We\'re not doing it halfway. We\'re not
> going over there for an obligatory trip to China. I want them to know
> that we\'re serious about being proactive in assisting them in their
> implementation of their commitments to the WTO, and so we are
> providing technical assistance to them. We will continue to do that.
> We have more people from the Department of Commerce deployed in China
> than any other country in the world.
>
> As far as promotional efforts are concerned, we are taking a more what
> we would call \"strategic approach\" to our export promotion efforts,
> one that focuses on those markets where we have much to gain, and as a
> result of our negotiations, like China, I think there\'s great
> opportunity there. Small- and medium-size businesses, in particular,
> need our help as an information bridge to market opportunities all
> around the world.
>
> Our goal, quite frankly, is to be the best of the class when it comes
> to responsiveness and effectiveness of our export promotion services.
> Meeting that goal will require a coordinated effort all across the
> federal government, and indeed we have a coordinated effort across the
> federal government. It\'s called the TPCC, which is a Trade Promotion
> Coordinating Committee. I\'m delighted to say that Eduardo serves as
> my Vice Chairman on this committee, but it\'s bringing agencies all
> across government together to stay very focused on doing what we can
> to support the export community in finding new markets abroad.
>
> In order to make sure that we understand our customers\' needs, our
> workers\', our exporters\' needs, we had a survey to see what it was
> they needed, and we benchmarked what their expectations were, and we
> also are going to benchmark what our competition is doing, so we can
> measure ourself, which I think is very important. If we\'re going to
> put programs in place, let\'s measure them. Are they successful? Are
> they working? Are they delivering the kind of services to the American
> worker in businesses that they should?
>
> What that has led to is the development of a comprehensive national
> export strategy during this President\'s tenure. This will be the
> first, I think, effective strategy that\'s been put in place in terms
> of exports in quite some time. Can we make a difference? Absolutely.
>
> We know that trade agreements, as a result of hopefully what TPA will
> deliver us, could contribute as much as \$1.9 trillion to the economic
> growth of this world, but look on beyond that. I mean, I don\'t know
> what the number is. I like to just look at it in the big picture of
> things. Over the generations ahead, as you open up trade, the global
> economy is going to grow certainly at a more rapid pace, which means
> trillions and trillions of dollars.
>
> Our goal is to ensure that U.S. companies garner their fair share of
> the expanding market. Our efforts will necessarily depend primarily on
> the innovation and ingenuity of the exporters, of the businesses. As I
> said before, I mean, all government can do is create the conditions,
> create the right environment. It\'s the exporters, it\'s the workers,
> it\'s the entrepreneurs that really create the wealth, but we do
> intend to improve our ability to find the market opportunities that
> our companies seek and to support them, as trade, indeed, becomes an
> ever-increasing part of our economy.
>
> Twenty-five percent of the growth in the U.S. economy in the 1990s was
> a result of trade. I would say to you, in the decade we\'re in now, I
> don\'t know what the number will be, but it will be something higher.
> Will it be 30 percent, 35 percent? I\'m not sure, but I\'m sure that
> it might be higher. That is why we\'ve been working so hard with our
> friends, like Eduardo, across the government to put this national
> export strategy in place, and we will present that to Congress on May
> the 14th.
>
> Now you probably wouldn\'t expect me to leave this group of bankers
> without saying a few things about the critical role that finance plays
> in our strategy. Trade finance is one of the top two challenges that
> small- and medium-size businesses identified when we surveyed them.
>
> Our survey also found that the vast majority of U.S. companies did not
> take advantage, they are not aware of the trade finance products
> marketed by Ex-Im Bank or to Small Business Administration under their
> working capital programs. So we\'re going to try and deliver that
> message, and we\'re going to do it by combining the efforts of the
> Small Business Administration, the Ex-Im Bank, the Foreign Commercial
> Service operation within the Department of Commerce to make sure that
> our customers, and our clients, and our exporters know about these
> products.
>
> We want to make these programs more effective by integrating them, to
> the extent we can, while still preserving the benefits of each. Our
> vision here is one program available to all banks that could be
> customized, depending upon the needs of the bank and the needs of the
> client.
>
> There is one other facet of trade finance that I propose we work
> together on, and that is how to best leverage one of our greatest
> resources, which is the American financial community. There is plainly
> more that we can do to draw upon your experience, and your expertise,
> and your creativity in getting our exports out the door. So I ask you
> to be engaged in it, I ask you to continue to deliver the trade
> message throughout your communities to all of those you talk to.
>
> One of my big chores in the months and years ahead will be in
> educating the American people about trade, and why it is going to be
> such an important part of their life, and why it is good for our
> country, and why it is good for all mankind, and why it is so
> fundamental to leading this world toward a world that lives in peace
> and prosperity.
>
> I want to take you back to the dream. The dream that we all have is to
> leave this world for our children and our grandchildren, one that is a
> world that lives in peace and prosperity. Trade is how to get there in
> the years ahead. You develop relationships, you develop friendships,
> you develop partnerships, you work with others all around the world,
> and you learn about them, and you learn that we all share the same
> dreams.
>
> So back to your role, I just would say that I would like to make an
> informal appointment of you to be ambassadors of this great mission to
> sell our own country on the importance of trade toward leading us
> toward peace and prosperity, and sell the whole world on how important
> trade is toward leading us toward peace and prosperity.
>
> Thank you all very much for having me. It\'s been a delight to be
> here.
>
> Eduardo, thank you again for the great leadership that you\'re
> providing America, and God bless all of you. Appreciate you.
>
> \[Applause.\]
>
> \[Whereupon, the luncheon proceedings were concluded.\]