Comprehensive Trade Agenda Could Create 10 Million U.S. Jobs, New Report Finds

The United States could create 10 million new trade-connected jobs over the next 10 years if it pursues a comprehensive pro-trade policy agenda that focuses on trade agreements, investment, immigration, taxation and the labor market safety net, according to a new report commissioned by HSBC Bank USA, N.A.

The report, authored by Matt Slaughter of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, shows that the success of the U.S. economy is in large part a result of the innovation and growth that international trade fosters. Furthermore, the report finds that trade could serve as the catalyst for a second U.S. job boom and far-reaching economic prosperity.

"The United States truly is made for trade,” said Slaughter. “There is a future with millions of good U.S. jobs connected to the world via international trade and investment, but that future is dependent on U.S. policies based on a sound understanding of the critical role trade plays in U.S. companies' success."

Some of the key highlights of the report, How America Is Made For Trade, that demonstrate the impact U.S. exports have had on the economy, include:

• In absolute dollars, U.S. exports have more than doubled to $2.26 trillion in 2013 from $1.04 trillion in 2003.
• In the last three years, exports as a share of U.S. GDP climbed to 13.5 percent, the highest since 1947.
• International trade has boosted annual U.S. income by at least 10 percentage points of GDP relative to what it would have been without global engagement, which translates into an aggregate gain of at least $1.7 trillion in 2013, or an average gain of more than $13,600 per U.S. household per year.
• Exporters and importers are more capital-intensive, more productive, and pay wages about 15-20 percent higher than employers who don’t trade globally.
• The number of U.S. exporters has steadily risen in recent years, reaching a record 304,867 in 2012. Small and medium-sized companies – those that employ 500 workers or fewer – accounted for more than 97.7 percent of this total.
• Trade in U.S. services has also increased dramatically in the last 20 years. Between 1993 and 2013, service exports rose 274 percent while service imports grew by more than 269 percent.

Slaughter will discuss the report at today's HSBC Made For Trade event in Washington, DC. Speakers at today's event include leaders from: United States Trade Representative Michael Froman, Export-Import Bank of the United States, Organization for International Investment, Honest Tea, GE, and KPMG International; as well Jon Huntsman, Chairman of the Atlantic Council, HSBC USA President and CEO Irene Dorner, HSBC USA President and CEO-Designate Patrick Burke and HSBC North America Head of Commercial Banking Steve Bottomley.

HSBC, established in the U.S. in 1875, has a rich history of supporting international commerce and is the largest trade financer in the world. Yesterday, HSBC announced it plans to increase its U.S. International Loan Program to $5 billion. The program started in 2013 with $1 billion and has been met with immense demand from U.S. small and medium size businesses looking to export or expand internationally to unlock the potential of global markets.

"Trade is booming and millions of new trade-related American jobs are projected because U.S. businesses are becoming more internationally minded about growth," said Pat Burke, in-coming President and CEO and HSBC USA. "We've been on the ground in the nation's biggest global trading hubs over the past year and heard from mayors, business leaders and economic development organizations, and it's clear that U.S. trade expansion is and will be a catalyst of future economic growth."

Today marks the final stop on the 2014 HSBC Made For Trade tour, which launched in Los Angeles in March before moving on to Houston, San Francisco, and Chicago.

For more information about HSBC Made For Trade and how HSBC is helping to make global connections, please visit: http://www.MadeForTrade.hsbc.com

Notes to Editors

(1) HSBC Made For Trade

HSBC Made For Trade is a national conversation with leaders in business, government, industry and academia about the role of global trade in today’s economy. This national tour looks at the contribution of the international flow of goods, services and capital to the U.S. economy, and the opportunities for American businesses brought about by global trade. HSBC Made For Trade stops in four U.S. cities whose economies have been shaped by global trade, and concludes in Washington, DC, where voices from around the country are brought together with national officials and thought leaders to discuss policies to further promote the international flow of goods, services and capital.

About HSBC

Founded in 1865 to finance trade between Asia and the West, today HSBC Group is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations. Headquartered in London, HSBC Group operates through long-established businesses and an international network of some 6,200 offices in 74 countries and territories. Today, HSBC is the world’s leading bank for international trade, financing approximately 13 percent of bank-financed trade in 2013. Our global reach and expertise helps millions of customers – from small businesses to multinationals – unlock their potential.

In the U.S., HSBC serves 3 million customers through retail banking and wealth management, commercial banking, private banking, asset management, and global banking and markets segments, and operates more than 240 bank branches: over 155 in New York State as well as in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington State.

About Matthew J. Slaughter

Matt Slaughter is the Signal Companies' Professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, the faculty director of Tuck's Center for Global Business and Government, and the associate dean for faculty. He is also currently a Research Associate at the NBER; an adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; a member of the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy; a member of the academic advisory board of the International Tax Policy Forum; an academic advisor to the McKinsey Global Institute; and from 2005-2007, he served as a Member on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President. Professor Slaughter’s area of expertise is the economics and politics of globalization. Much of his recent work has focused on policy responses to the World Financial Crisis; on the global operations of multinational firms; and on the labor-market impacts of international trade, investment, and immigration.

* UNCTAD / Oliver Wyman Global Transaction Banking Survey 2013