Country Desk Officers at the Department of Commerce and State cover all trading partner countries in the world. They offer assistance with questions on legal and governmental environment, marketing events and product category potential. They also do market research, and look for export prospects. Export Yellow Pages is distributed worldwide and used by foreign agents, distributors, and end-users. US companies can list their products or services for free.
Every state has international business and trade promotion services.
The state also has overseas offices and representatives who help locate agents and distributors and who provide market research. Some foreign governments are assisting US companies with exports to their countries as a means of initiating business relationships. The Canadian Embassy has a trade and business development section to help American companies do business in Canada. A private foreign information provider is the World Trade Center Institute which has resources in all the World Trade Centers worldwide, provides seminars and workshops, and houses a World Trade Resource Center. Many countries also have trade promotion offices, mainly located in New York.