Strategic Partners
No matter where along the export chain your organization finds itself, we have partners that can assist. Our partners are displayed in the following categories:
Follow the links to find out how valuable our partners’ resources are.
Associations
United States Council for International Business (USCIB) is leading pro-trade group that administers the ATA Carnet system for temporary duty-free exports in the United States. USCIB recently joined Commercial Service’s Association Unit to expand awareness of ATA Carnets among the nation’s up-and-coming exporters.
National Association of Manufacturers mission is to advocate on behalf of its members to enhance the competitiveness of manufacturers and to increase understanding about the vital role of manufacturing in America’s economic and national security. The NAM is also a participant in the New Market Exporter Initiative.
The National Fluid Power Association (NFPA), provides a forum for the fluid power industry's channel partners-manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, customers and educators. Its U.S. members work cooperatively to strengthen the industry and to advance hydraulic and pneumatic technology through the association's many programs and initiatives. A key element of that cooperation is the development of new business opportunities throughout the world. The U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service offers a wide range of program and information that can be very helpful to NFPA members in finding and pursuing new trade opportunities. The partnership with NFPA will help our members connect with specific trade specialists and take advantage of these services, and supports NFPA's strategic initiative to help members compete globally.
Export Finance
City National Bank serves successful companies that are global or ready to go global. Established in 1954, City National Bank is a Moody’s AA-rated financial institution, placing it in the top 1 percent of all US banks. City National provides working capital loans for export finance, international banking, letters of credit services, and foreign exchange. Its powerful team of experts and its relationships with the Ex-Im Bank, the U.S. Commercial Service, and the Bank of East Asia as well as other foreign banks uniquely qualify City National Bank to help its clients export their products to the world. City National Bank member FDIC.
Comerica Bank is a subsidiary of Comerica Incorporated, which has assets in excess of $67 billion and is based in Dallas. Its domestic network consists of over 400 banking centers in the United States in Michigan, California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida; and international offices in Canada, Mexico, and China. Comerica Bank provides a broad spectrum of financial services, including: trust and international trade, export financing, and cash management.
M&T Bank, founded in 1856 in Buffalo, NY, is among the nation’s 20 largest commercial bank holding companies.
M&T Bank is an active user of the Export-Import Bank’s programs that provides financing to foreign buyers of U.S capital goods and services. M&T's active markets include Mexico, Central and South America, India, Russia and Turkey.
Through M&T's partnership with the U.S. Commercial Service (CS), M&T hopes to reach many U.S. small and medium-sized businesses informing them how M&T and the U.S. Commercial Service can increase their export business. The goal is to increase exports with safe and secure payment mechanisms. Through joint CS/M&T supported seminars in foreign countries such as Mexico and India, the hope is to generate orders for U.S. capital goods and services with term financing guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank.
M&T Bank is also an aggressive user of the Ex-Im Bank and SBA programs which assist exporters in getting the working capital they need to fulfill their export orders.
TD Bank is one of the 15 largest banks in the United States with over 120 billion in assets and more than 1,000 retail locations conveniently located from Maine to Florida. TD Bank provides customers with a full range of financial products and services including Global Trade Finance. Global Trade Finance services include; Trade services for Importers and exporters for Letters of Credit, Standby Letters of Credit and Documentary Collections as well as Medium Term export financing with support from both the US Import Export Bank and Export Development Canada. TD Bank’s Global Trade Finance Group works with clients around the world, focusing strategically on markets from offices in key financial centers including Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, New York, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. For more information please visit www.TDBank.com or call their toll free number at 1(800) 937-8226.
Zions Bank is a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation , which has over $50 billion in assets and is headquartered in Salt Lake City. Its domestic network consists of over 500 offices and 600 ATMs in 10 Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. Zions Bank specializes in foreign currency, trade finance, and management.
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Legal and Regulatory Advice
Baker & McKenzie has a global network of 3,600 attorneys, located in 70 locations throughout 38 countries. It provides expertise in international trade regulation and corporate compliance for most commercially significant countries in the world, including: customs laws and trade regulation, export controls and anti-boycott regulations, and antidumping and countervailing duty law.
TUV Rheinland assists U.S companies in penetrating markets outside the United States through knowledge of how to navigate the compliance and regulatory requirements for each country they wish to export to in addition to specific product testing and certification laws within different geographical areas.
In order to get their products into foreign markets most quickly and efficiently, Department of Commerce clients need to be kept up to date with the latest standard and certification rules so as to not preclude their products from crossing borders or receiving monetary sanctions.
TUV has a proven track record of helping manufacturers sell all over the world on a daily basis. As a premier technical service provider, TUV helps US companies navigate the regulatory and compliance hurdles of the global market place. We can educate businesses with information regarding the requirements needed to penetrate valuable target markets and maximize their revenue potential by helping them expedite the process to generate revenue as soon as possible.
Transportation and Shipping
FedEx and the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) currently operate an initiative aimed at boosting exports from small and medium-size businesses. This unique public-private sector partnership was launched in mid-2004, when FedEx was selected via a competitive procurement process.
The primary function of the FedEx-CS initiative is to provide a unified framework of exporting services through private sector and U.S. government resources. Specifically, the initiative provides small and medium-size businesses with information and tools that address the complex facets of international trade.
Since the start of our alliance, FedEx and the CS have held more than 200 exporting seminars / outreach events around the world and exposed more than 10,000 small and medium-size businesses to exporting. We have also supported several trade missions to help companies explore business development opportunities in booming markets such as China, India and Latin America.
FedEx and the CS can effectively help businesses large and small streamline the export process through our joint resources. FedEx provides access to a growing global marketplace through a network of supply chain, transportation, business and information services serving more than 220 countries and territories. The CS has global trade specialists across the U.S. and in more than 80 countries. Together, our efforts are leading to dynamic changes in export assistance.
FedEx is a participant of the New Market Exporter Initiative.
As one of the world’s leading carriers, Lufthansa is proud to partner with the U.S. Commercial Service (CS); supporting their efforts to aid small-and medium-sized enterprises’ export initiatives. Together with our partners United Airlines & Continental, we are able to offer various corporate products which can reduce the cost of international air transportation for any size of company, while increasing efficiency on the road due to our strong combined network and high quality product.
After nearly 80 years’ experience as a passenger airline, we know that air transportation connects people globally and enables the positive exchange of ideas, goods and services. This knowledge and our worldwide reach will help support U.S. companies and facilitate bringing their contributions to the international marketplace.
Lufthansa is a global aviation group, with more than 95 centers of operation throughout the United States. Lufthansa employs nearly 10,000 aviation professionals in the United States including passenger services staff, cargo logisticians, aircraft maintenance technicians, IT specialists and teams of airline catering personnel at 47 customer service centers across the country. Lufthansa also invests significantly in goods and services from hundreds of American suppliers – including state-of-the-art aircraft and engines from our U.S. partners.
UPS and the U.S. Commercial Service have teamed up to help U.S. companies grow their exports. UPS offers a proven global track record that enables businesses to benefit from its international resources and export tools to streamline the export process and turn international trade into a competitive advantage.
UPS, which celebrated its 100th birthday in 2007, is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, offering an extensive range of options for synchronizing the movement of goods, information and funds. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.
UPS is a participant of the New Market Exporter Initiative.
The U.S. Postal Service serves more than 9 million customers daily, at nearly 37,000 retail locations and has annual operating revenue of nearly $75 billion, including $2.0 billion in international shipments. It has one of the world's largest e-mail systems, delivering more than 13 million e-mails a day, with an average delivery time of less than 5 seconds. It delivered 3.6 billion e-mail messages in 2007. This amount has been growing at a rate of 35 percent per year.
The U.S. Postal Service does not receive tax dollars for operations. Is a self-supporting agency, using the revenue from the sale of postage, products, and services to pay expenses.
U.S. Postal Service is a participant of the New Market Exporter Initiative.
e-Commerce
FITA, the Federation of International Trade Associations, was founded in
1984. Through its websites http://www.fita.org and http://www.globaltrade.net, FITA provides resources, benefits, services and useful tools that help companies and individuals do business globally.
The 450,000+ organizations that are linked to FITA through their membership in one of the 450+ FITA member associations represent a broad cross-section of the international trade and business community: manufacturers, trading companies, contractors, freight forwarders, custom house brokers, airlines, shipping companies, port authorities, banks, insurance brokers and underwriters, associations and a wide range of service providers including telecommunications companies, law firms and consultants.
FITA’s new website GlobalTrade.net will be a huge resource where service providers can post content that will feature their expertise for the benefit of the international trade community.
Event Organizers
Reed Exhibitions, the world’s leading events organizer, and the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) launched a public-private sector partnership in 2009, focused on increasing international sales from small and medium-sized U.S. businesses. The agreement educates exporters on how to utilize international trade shows to expand their business and ultimately increase their ability to source and sell internationally.
Reed Exhibitions organizes over 470 events, across 44 industries, in 37 countries, including exhibitions, conferences, congresses, and meetings – a market reach of over 7 million participants annually. Reed Exhibitions International Sales Group is a local support system for U.S. companies of all sizes, dedicated to providing guidance on new market entry strategies, presenting new export opportunities, and giving insights into business practices globally, all the while ensuring our customers see results at our events.
Reed Exhibitions – Delivering contacts, content, and communities with the power to transform your business.
Part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a FTSE-100 company and world-leading publisher and information provider.
Trade Center Management Associates (TCMA) is a niche property management firm that specializes in public private partnerships and operating conference centers. TCMA manages The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center (RRB/ITC), in conjunction with the GSA. The RRB/ITC is 3.1 million sq feet and features one of the largest conference centers and catering facilities in the greater Washington area and is considered the premier forum for international events.
TCMA also operates the license for the World Trade Center of Washington DC and is in the process of setting up the World Trade Center Dublin. In addition to traditional property management and leasing, TCMA has a unique focuses on trade promotion (via trade events), demonstrates an established international presence through the World Trade Center Association and provides consulting activities worldwide. TCMA also operates select trade shows and offers expertise in international real estate and trade promotion.
Education
ThinkGlobal Incorporated is a print and online publishing company that specializes in the business-to-business and higher education markets. The company publishes print and online magazines, newsletters and websites, handles contract publishing, and develops marketing material. Partners and clients include government agencies, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and trade associations.
The company’s portfolio includes Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and ThinkEducationUSA.com, a multimedia website for international student recruitment. ThinkGlobal manages custom publishing, newsletter, writing and graphic design projects of itself and its partners.
ThinkGlobal has in-depth knowledge of the Commercial Service, its business processes and its mission, as well as a clear understanding of how the partner program is designed to advance the goals of the organization. Moreover, the company is familiar with the Commercial Service branding initiative, and its goal of broadening and deepening the U.S. exporter base.
