The best way for the United States to stay competitive is to “still be ahead of the curve, have better products and sell them globally,” says U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue.

Creating jobs relies on increasing trade, Donohue said. “With 95% of the people we want to sell something to living outside the United States, boosting our exports is one of the surest ways to create jobs here at home.”

Donohue participated in a panel on the future of trade during the third day of GE’s “American Competitiveness: What Works” event. Donohue was joined by Gov. Bob McDonnell (VA); Senator Tom Carper (DE), and GE Vice Chairman, President and CEO for Global Growth & Operations John Rice.

One way to stay ahead of the curve is to approve as quickly as possible a four-year reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) that also sufficiently increases its lending cap, Donohue told a crowd that included leaders from business and politics.

“Ex-Im makes money, which is an unusual proposition for the federal government,” Donohue pointed out. Ex-Im has generated almost $2 billion for taxpayers in the past five years, $400 million in fiscal 2011 alone, $6 billion of which went to small businesses, an increase of more than 20% since 2010.

However, the bank’s work will come to a halt when it hits its $100 billion lending cap, which is expected in March or April. In addition, the export credit agency’s temporary reauthorization expires on May 31. Failure to address reauthorization and increase the lending cap would mean a halt on the projects in the pipeline.

The Chamber and a coalition of 14 major associations sent a letter to Congress on February 14 urging reauthorization. “Failure to reauthorize its operations at an internationally competitive level would seriously disadvantage U.S. companies—small and large—in foreign markets, potentially resulting in the loss of thousands of U.S. jobs,” the group wrote in the letter.