Let's start with a quote from "Tide Is Shifting On U.S. Exports" in the Washington Post today:

"For a long time people thought of globalization only as the loss of jobs," said Elliott Howard..."Now, I think of it as expanding the company."

Identifying and tapping into new markets are no longer luxuries for most companies, but necessities.  Ninety-five percent of the world’s population lives outside the United States. The U.S. market continues to mature even as rapidly growing economies in Asia, the former Soviet republics, and the Middle East offer U.S. companies outstanding opportunities for growth.

Forward looking companies understand that a highly competitive, globally integrated economy requires a new approach in the way they source, recruit talent, raise capital, position assets, secure their supply-chain, and sell their products and services.

It requires forging new relationships and changing old ones. It requires fundamentally rethinking business processes, operations, and culture. It requires an approach that is global in outlook and innovative in practice.

And it's not just the big guys, small- and medium-size companies represent more than 97% of all exporters, with $200 billion in sales annually, or 29% of all U.S. merchandise exports.

The Chamber recognizes these trends and have positioned ourselves to be leaders in the worldwide economy.  At the most basic level, that requires our organization to do in foreign capitals what it traditionally does in the U.S. capital, lobby for public policies that help businesses grow.

That includes:

• fighting unreasonable regulations and standards
• working for sound tax policies and a faster, simpler, fairer legal system
• aggressively promoting the benefits of trade, globalization, and foreign investment
• and otherwise creating a good business environment.

"There also is increased international demand for complex niche products for which 'made in the U.S.A.' remains shorthand for reliability.'"These are the kinds of things for which the U.S. continues to hold a lead in know-how,' said Erin Ennis, vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council."

It is vital that we have smart policies for business and trade so that we don't surrender this lead.