| Operating as the international business
development arm of the US Government, the US Commercial
Service in the UK provides customised solutions and
business counselling services to US firms seeking to
enter or grow in the global marketplace. We work with
our US Department of Commerce colleagues in 105 Export
Assistance Centres in the United States, as well as
with our colleagues at other US Embassies in the EU,
our state and local trade and investment offices, our
HMG counterparts and key strategic partners, such as
BABi, BABC, and others, who have a common interest with
us in developing business relationships between the
US and the UK.
The US offers an endless number of business
opportunities to companies in the UK. We have the richest
domestic market in the world, and international trade
and investment play a significant and ever growing role
in our economy. Today, 25% of the US economy is dependent
on international trade. One in five American jobs is
export related, and these jobs pay higher wages than
our non-export related jobs, which makes them all the
more important.
On the investment side, foreign direct
investment (FDI) in the US totalled approximately $82bn
in 2003 and the UK continued its ranking as our number
one source of FDI. It is no wonder that the UK alone
accounts for over one million of the six and a half
million jobs that have been created by foreign investors
in the US. In sum, the US is the most open and accessible
market in the world, and our number one business partner
in Europe is the UK.
It is certainly no secret that the manufacturing
sector in the US has faced many significant challenges
over the years. Nevertheless, our manufacturing sector
remains a vibrant and important part of the US economy,
thanks to our never-ending ability to restructure our
industries and continually raise our levels of productivity,
innovation and value-added manufacturing. American firms
never cease in their efforts to build the strongest
and most dynamic manufacturing sector in the world,
and, for this reason, the US remains far and away the
largest producer of manufactured goods in the world.
The US manufacturing sector has generated
many of the innovations that have led to significant
productivity gains in the US and around the world over
the last 25 years. In fact, increases in US manufacturing
productivity have consistently outpaced other sectors
of the economy. Between 1977 and 2002, manufacturing
sector productivity rose 109%, as compared to productivity
growth of 53% overall in the US economy.
The US also leads the world in innovation
and this innovation continues to provide America’s
most important competitive edge in the global market
place. The US private sector alone spends $193bn annually
on R&D, while the US federal government’s
investment in research will grow to a record $126bn
in fiscal year 2004 and $132bn in FY 2005, a 42% increase
since 2001. With this level of investment, it is quite
clear that the research and development centres in the
US today are focused on generating the products and
industries of tomorrow.
These statistics and trends will come
as no surprise to the many members of BritishAmerican
Business Inc (BABi) who already have a presence in the
US as investors, traders and employers, and who profit
by operating or by sourcing products, services and technology
from their American suppliers. We thank you for your
work and daily contributions to our extraordinary transatlantic
business partnership.
To those readers who are only considering
their business prospects and potential for entry into
the world of British-American trade and investment,
we encourage you to explore the enormous opportunities
that await you in working with the US. I invite you
to contact us at the US Embassy in London and take advantage
of the many programmes and services that the US Commercial
Service can offer you to help realise your future economic
growth and prosperity in partnership with our American
firms. We measure our success on the basis of your success,
and we sincerely look forward to working with you to
our mutual benefit and the economic prosperity of both
of our nations.
For information contact:
US Commercial Service, US Embassy
24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7408 8019
E-mail: london.office.box@mail.doc.gov
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