Trade policy in US worries small businesses

Trade policy in US worries small businesses

Trade policy in US worries small businesses: Small business owners trying to break into international markets say US trade policies and the strong dollar affect their ability to export, states a report released Tuesday.

The exchange rate “has been a big one,” said Jamie Deering, whose parents started Deering Banjo in 1975 in San Diego, California. Exports of the iconic American folk instrument account for 30 percent of the company s business.

Many of the 16 small businesses featured in the report entitled “The New Faces of American Trade” also cite the strong US dollar as a factor weakening their potential to export, a complaint they share with larger manufacturers.

A strong dollar makes US products more expensive, and thus less competitive, in overseas markets.

Wei-Shin Lai, who with her husband Jason Wolfe invented SleepPhones — wearable headphones in a flexible headband — said the company had to pull out of the Boots convenience store chain in Britain because they could no longer compete due to the unfavorable exchange rate.

“It became untenable for us to make money,” she said at a forum on the report Tuesday. Her company is based in the struggling Rust Belt city of Erie, Pennsylvania.The report, produced by the Global Innovation Forum, a nonprofit connecting small businesses with policymakers and resources to join the global marketplace, examined how these companies use internet resources to expand their export presence.

Like bigger companies, small businesses favor open trade and consistent rules. And trade negotiations are key to keeping markets overseas open to American products.

“If we re not at the table another voice will step in,” Lai said. “We need to be there,” she said of international trade negotiations.”   Deering told the forum about changes in rules on exporting rosewood that have forced changes in production procedures, since the company uses rosewood inlay on their banjos.

LoveBook, which produces customized individual books as gifts for a loved ones, has resorted to partnering with companies overseas to print their product, an arrangement which in many cases is easier than dealing with export rules.

Co-founder Rob Patterson said 40 percent of sales from the Michigan-based company are exports, to 148 countries, and because of the delays involved in exports local sourcing makes sense.

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Following the successful launch of HumSub TV’s head office in Blue Area, Islamabad; the bureau office has been set up in Lahore.

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HumSub TV, Pakistan’s first EDUTAINMENT Channel, has been set up for not only those audience residing in Pakistan or overseas but the international community on the whole. The vision of the channel is to project positive image building of Pakistan and inculcate nationalism as per the vision of the founder of the nation.

HumSub TV strives to make a positive contribution to this end by promoting pluralism, inclusiveness and egality in Pakistan and give voice to the suppressed. It endeavors to act as a positive catalyst for social change and Pakistani nationalism. It envisions providing a platform for airing critical and lateral thinking and collective wisdom by inviting positive minded intellectuals and opinion forming individuals for the promotion of interfaith harmony and peace in the social, political and economic development of Pakistan.

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