TCB is usually defined broadly to include all types of development assistance that positively affect a country’s ability to secure benefits from international trade. Such assistance includes addressing the regulatory environment for business, trade, and investment; constraints such as low capacity for production and entrepreneurship; and inadequate physical infrastructure, such as poor transport and storage facilities. (See app. III for a detailed list of TCB category definitions in the U.S. government TCB database.) USAID’s TCB goal is to increase the number of developing countries that are harnessing global economic forces to accelerate growth and increase incomes. A variety of U.S. agencies have a role in providing TCB assistance. In fiscal year 2012, according to the U.S. government TCB database, a total of 19 organizations obligated funding for TCB-related activities. The roles and responsibilities of four key agencies involved are described below: USAID: One of USAID’s core development objectives is to promote sustainable, broad-based economic growth by helping developing countries increase their exports through trade capacity building. As outlined in its March 2003 document, Building Trade Capacity in the Developing World, USAID aims to achieve its TCB goal by supporting participation in trade negotiations, implementation of trade agreements, and economic responsiveness to trade opportunities. USAID plans, funds, and implements TCB activities at both the agency and country levels. According to USAID’s 2003 TCB strategy, USAID should take a primary role in coordinating assistance among agencies engaged in TCB activities. In fiscal year 2012, USAID obligated about $418 million for TCB-related activities worldwide. State: Under its strategic goal of promoting economic growth and prosperity, State has committed to supporting the negotiation and implementation of trade agreements. State’s Trade Policy and Programs staff help countries advance global, regional, and bilateral trade initiatives, including free trade agreements (FTA) and World Trade Organization (WTO) initiatives. In fiscal year 2012, State obligated about $143 million for TCB-related activities worldwide. MCC: As we reported in 2011, MCC conducts TCB-related activities— mostly associated with infrastructure development—that support its broader strategic and agency mission goals. However, MCC does not have a specific TCB mission or strategic plans and goals relating specifically to TCB. In fiscal year 2012, MCC obligated about $351 million for TCB-related activities worldwide. USTR: USTR does not implement or fund any TCB programs but leads trade negotiations that may create demand for TCB assistance or may result in agreements that create opportunities for TCB to improve the ability of the recipient to benefit from its provisions. USTR also plays an advisory role to agencies with programmatic responsibilities, informing those agencies about TCB needs or opportunities related to trade initiatives or negotiations and needs that might emerge related to USTR’s broader responsibilities for U.S. international trade policy. Sixteen other organizations also obligated about $80 million in TCB- related assistance in fiscal year 2012. See figure 1 for illustrative examples of TCB activities that agencies conducted in the countries we visited during our fieldwork. For the two most recent years for which data are available (fiscal years 2011 and 2012), USAID TCB-related obligations totaled more than $1 billion, making USAID the agency that contributed the largest amount during that period. Some obligations reflect agencies’ provision of infrastructure and development projects that had trade-related effects— and were therefore counted as TCB—but were conducted to fulfill broader objectives. For example, while USAID reported more than $1 billion in TCB-related obligations for fiscal years 2011 through 2012, the trade and investment program area of USAID’s budget for those years consisted of a total of about $348 million. Over the past 5 years, USAID, State, and MCC provided a total of about $6.7 billion in TCB-related assistance (see fig. 2). In 2003, USAID issued a formal strategic plan on TCB—Building Trade Capacity in the Developing World—to focus its TCB efforts and guide the selection of new activities. The plan calls for USAID’s TCB projects to support the three priority areas of helping countries participate in trade negotiations, implement trade agreements, and take advantage of trade opportunities. The strategy was developed partly in response to the Doha Development Agenda and U.S. commitments to increase global economic growth through free markets and free trade, according to USAID officials. Among other things, the strategy defines overall TCB priorities and includes discussion of agency-wide and country-level TCB strategies; discusses specific considerations that influence the agency’s TCB approach, including labor and environment issues, and negotiations concerning trade agreements; provides information on TCB categories and definitions and USAID’s discusses coordination with other U.S. agencies on TCB activities, calling for USAID to take a primary role in coordination assistance among all the agencies providing TCB assistance to developing countries. Among the four key agencies that we reviewed, USAID is the only one that has issued a formal strategy focused entirely on TCB. In response to continued congressional interest in oversight, we undertook reviews of U.S. TCB activities and issued reports in 2005 and 2011. In our 2005 report, we recommended that USTR and USAID develop a cost-effective strategy to monitor and measure program results and to evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. TCB assistance. In response, USAID in consultation with USTR developed a multicountry evaluation to measure the effectiveness of U.S. TCB assistance that was issued in November 2010. In our 2011 report, we recommended that the Administrator of USAID publicly report identified limitations and key distinctions in the definitional categories of TCB assistance in the U.S. government TCB database. (For more information about the TCB database and definitional categories, see app. III.) Beginning in 2011, USAID streamlined and clarified the definitions of TCB categories to facilitate reporting and improve transparency. This change was reflected in the “technical notes” section of the TCB database. According to USAID officials, development and implementation of TCB activities in the field are guided more by country-specific strategies that incorporate country needs, circumstances, and priorities than by USAID’s 2003 TCB strategy. This approach is consistent with guidance provided by the TCB strategy, as well. Specifically, USAID’s TCB strategy states that the selection and prioritization of TCB activities at the country level will continue to be determined by missions’ country-specific strategic plans and resources. USAID officials also stated that in countries associated with specific trade negotiations or agreements, TCB activities are also derived from the needs identified through those negotiations or agreements. The main strategy document that guides USAID activities in the field, including TCB activities, is the missions’ Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), according to USAID officials. USAID policy requires most USAID missions to prepare a CDCS, which is a 5-year strategy that serves as the basis for the mission’s assistance planning, budgeting, and resource allocation and is based on country needs and U.S. priorities. It is developed in consultation with partner country governments and citizens, civil society organizations, the private sector, multilateral organizations, other donors, and other USG agencies. USAID officials at the USAID Mission in Ethiopia stated that the mission’s CDCS is the main strategy guiding their TCB activities. For example, Ethiopia’s CDCS calls for TCB-related activities under its objective of increasing economic growth with resiliency in rural Ethiopia. This objective focuses on strengthening agricultural value chains—the process or activities by which relevant firms add value to a product—by increasing the availability of market-based information, among other things. The objective also focuses on improving private sector competitiveness through efforts such as trade and customs reform. The Agribusiness and Market Development Project is an example of TCB activities in Ethiopia that were guided by this objective. The Agribusiness and Market Development project has activities aimed at improving the global competitiveness of selected value chains for products such as sesame, chickpeas, and coffee, and increasing private sector access to finance and investment. To help identify TCB needs and provide further strategic guidance for their development of specific TCB programs, USAID missions also use ongoing trade negotiations—such as bilateral trade agreements or World Trade Organization (WTO) accession—and commitments made under existing trade agreements. During our fieldwork, USAID officials in both Vietnam and Laos reported that development and implementation of the mission’s TCB activities were guided by needs identified by USAID and the host government during the negotiation and implementation of trade agreements and WTO accession. Specific examples of TCB assistance that was guided by these events are Vietnam’s Support for Trade Acceleration Projects (STAR I and STAR II), which ran from 2001-2010. STAR I and II provided technical assistance to the Vietnamese government to facilitate revision of its commercial laws, legal procedures, transparency, and appeals processes to meet requirements under the U.S. and Vietnam bilateral trade agreement and the WTO. According to USAID officials, a large portion of the agency’s TCB assistance is provided as a component of large development programs with their own strategies, goals, and objectives. These large programs provide TCB as a means to achieving other development objectives, such as food security, adaptation to climate change, or democracy and governance, and are therefore guided by strategies and policies directed at those objectives. We found examples of such programs in the African countries we visited, Tanzania and Ethiopia. USAID’s officials in the East Africa and Tanzania missions reported that most of the TCB-related activities in Tanzania are part of the “Feed the Future” initiative and are therefore guided by USAID’s Feed the Future strategy for the country. An example of such activities is the Staples Value Chain Development project in Tanzania.