
Daniel Griswold
SPECIAL REPORT. On November 6, 2012, elections were held for the President of the United States, all 435 Members of the House of Representatives, and 33 of 100 Senators. The election results did not significantly change the makeup of American leadership. What has changed, however, is the severity of the challenges facing the new 113th Congress, as well as American companies in 2013 and beyond.
After last year’s leadership transition, many U.S. firms doing business in China hoped to see an expansion of trade and an easing of regulations in 2013. The sudden openness of the Chinese media and Xi Jinping’s apparent crackdown on corruption has fueled this speculation. Unfortunately, this year is shaping up to be nearly as vexing for foreign companies as last year.
From our Nation’s founding, entrepreneurs, small business owners and small farmers have provided dynamic growth and innovation, creating a flourishing middle class. They have supplied cities and small towns with new products, processes and jobs. The Council on Competitiveness in a 2007 report said the United States leads all major industrial economies in the percent of the adult population engaged in entrepreneurial activity.
For U.S. companies seeking to penetrate global markets, the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones program is proving to be a huge asset. In 2011, exports from companies operating in an FTZ surged by 56 percent compared to Fiscal Year 2010, according to a new report from the FTZ Board in Washington, D.C. That export growth compares to a 21 percent increase in total U.S. goods exports during the same period.
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