Export Promotion: Overall U.S. Strategy Needed

GAO discussed ways in which federal export promotion programs can be improved. GAO noted that: (1) export promotion services in the United States are currently fragmented among 10 government agencies, including the Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States; (2) the fragmented approach has led to program inefficiencies and confusion in the U.S. business community; (3) considerable federal resources are devoted to export promotion programs, but the programs are not funded on the basis of any coherent governmentwide strategy or set of national priorities; (4) the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee was established to streamline the government's decentralized approach to export promotion; and (5) some steps have been taken to unify the system, but the government's fundamental approach has not changed.