Trading Up With Asia - Port of Los Angeles · Trade Connect gives them a roadmap and puts them in...
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Trading Up With Asia TRENDS AND BUSINESS NEWS AT THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES "To create more jobs and opportunity for Southern California, we need to reach out and find more opportunities to trade with the outside world, especially Asia where the action has been and will continue to be." When it comes to U.S. companies doing business with Asia, the numbers alone make the case: • Cambodia has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with its gross domestic product growing 7.2 percent in 2013. • Fourteen Korean companies are international Fortune 500 corporations with Samsung Electronics leading the way at No. 14. • Ninety-nine million people live in the Philippines, a nation where income and education levels are rising and the average age is 22 years old. "Numbers like these are the tip of the iceberg," said Jim MacLellan, director of Trade Development Division of the Port of Los Angeles, which operates the Port’s Trade Connect program. "That’s why we created the Asia Trade Forum." With three-fourths of the world’s population and 44 percent of its total gross national product, Asia offers boundless opportunity for international trade. In addition to the existing economic powerhouse that is China, Asia’s emerging markets are among the most dynamic and ripe for joint ventures and investment. "South Korea is a perfect example," MacLellan said. "In a short period of time, this country has become our nation’s seventh largest trading partner, with two-way trade of more than $100 billion." Asia Trade Forum 2014 Enter Trade Connect, the Port’s award-winning outreach program dedicated to educating small and midsize U.S. companies about how to tap into foreign markets to grow their business and the U.S. economy. Trade Connect’s Asia Trade Forum 2014 drew more than 130 participants eager to gain a deeper understanding of the economics, demographics, governments and market opportunities in Malaysia, Cambodia, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Held in June on the campus of California State University Channel Islands, the Trade Connect forum was co-sponsored by the university’s Institute for Global Economic Research (IGER). The free half-day seminar featured in-depth briefings by high-level consular and trade experts representing each government. Participants also had the opportunity to speak individually with the experts during breaks. "The forum drew California companies looking to export everything from agricultural products to technology," MacLellan said. "It gave participants the kind of direct access that would be difficult to get with even one of these experts, let alone the entire group." Presentations spotlighted specific aspects of each economy such as Taiwan’s highly developed information and technology communications and green energy clusters. They also showcased opportunities such as the Hong Kong Trade Development Office’s annual Food Expo. The expo, which drew more than 460,000 international buyers and consumers to Hong Kong last summer, offered 10 California producers the opportunity to show their wares at a California pavilion and have participation costs waived. Speakers included Dr. Sung Won Sohn, director of IGER and a world-renowned global economist. Sohn, who serves on the boards of Forever 21 Inc., Western Alliance Bancorp. and Claremont Graduate University, is also a former member of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners. "To create more jobs and opportunity for Southern California, we need to reach out and find more opportunities to trade with the outside world, especially Asia where the action has been and will continue to be," Sohn said. "A lot of people simply don’t know where to start. Trade Connect gives them a roadmap and puts them in touch with people who are actually able to help." Sohn learned about Trade Connect programs during his two years as a Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioner. He knows of no other program that offers so many resources for learning about international trade and export opportunities. "As a card-carrying economist, I can tell you that Trade Connect is one of the best dollars spent by the government on any level," Sohn said. Future Growth The Asia Trade Forum is one of a series of Trade Connect seminars the Port offers to educate U.S. businesses on exporting to individual countries and specific regions. Trade with Asia benefits Southern California more than any other part of the U.S., and greater opportunity beckons given developing Asia’s projected GDP growth of 6.5 percent in 2014, MacLellan said. Driving trade with Korea is the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, signed in 2007. The agreement continues to phase in duty-free provisions, which today cover 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products. In 2012, two-thirds of U.S. agricultural exports became duty-free, which is among the factors that have made California Korea’s No. 1 trading partner of all 50 states. Another positive force for trade with Asia is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an organization whose 10-member nations work collaboratively to accelerate economic growth and prosperity throughout Southeast Asia. Member states represented at Asian Trade Forum 2014 were Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The ASEAN market is home to more than 500 million people whose growing middle class numbers approximately 150 million. In a 2012 survey by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Indonesia was named the most attractive business investment destination among the organization’s member nations. Separately, a 2013 survey by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation ranked Indonesia No. 1 as the world’s most promising country for overseas business. Also in play is the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral free trade agreement that 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region are negotiating. The region accounted for about one third of U.S. economic growth in the past five years. TPP countries already comprise the U.S.’ largest goods and services export market, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In 2013, exports of U.S. goods to TPP nations totaled $698 billion – 44 percent of the value of all U.S. goods traded internationally. "TPP will open the gates of opportunity even wider," said MacLellan, whose team is already organizing Asia Trade Forum 2015. "There’s no time like the present to learn about doing business in Asia."
Transcript of Trading Up With Asia - Port of Los Angeles · Trade Connect gives them a roadmap and puts them in...
Trading Up With Asia
TRENDS AND BUSINESS NEWSAT THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES
"To create more jobs and opportunity for Southern California, we need to reach out and find more opportunities to trade with the outside world, especially Asia where the action has been and will continue to be."
When it comes to U.S. companies doing business with Asia, the numbers alone make the case: • Cambodia has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, with its gross domestic product growing 7.2 percent in 2013. • Fourteen Korean companies are international Fortune 500 corporations with Samsung Electronics leading the way at No. 14. • Ninety-nine million people live in the Philippines, a nation where income and education levels are rising and the average age is 22 years old. "Numbers like these are the tip of the iceberg," said Jim MacLellan, director of Trade Development Division of the Port of Los Angeles, which operates the Port’s Trade Connect program. "That’s why we created the Asia Trade Forum."
With three-fourths of the world’s population and 44 percent of its total gross national product, Asia offers boundless opportunity for international trade. In addition to the existing economic powerhouse that is China, Asia’s emerging markets are among the most dynamic and ripe for joint ventures and investment.
"South Korea is a perfect example," MacLellan said. "In a short period of time, this country has become our nation’s seventh largest trading partner, with two-way trade of more than $100 billion."
Asia Trade Forum 2014
Enter Trade Connect, the Port’s award-winning outreach program dedicated to educating small and midsize U.S. companies about how to tap into foreign markets to grow their business and the U.S. economy. Trade Connect’s Asia Trade Forum 2014 drew more than 130 participants eager to gain a deeper understanding of the economics, demographics, governments and market opportunities in Malaysia, Cambodia, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Held in June on the campus of California State University Channel Islands, the Trade Connect forum was co-sponsored by the university’s Institute for Global Economic Research (IGER). The free half-day seminar featured in-depth briefings by high-level consular and trade experts representing each government. Participants also had the opportunity to speak individually with the experts during breaks.
"The forum drew California companies looking to export everything from agricultural products to technology," MacLellan said. "It gave participants the kind of direct access that would be difficult to get with even one of these experts, let alone the entire group."
Presentations spotlighted specific aspects of each economy such as Taiwan’s highly developed information and technology communications and green energy clusters. They also showcased opportunities such as the Hong Kong Trade Development Office’s annual Food Expo. The expo, which drew more than 460,000 international buyers and consumers to Hong Kong last summer, offered 10 California producers the opportunity to show their wares at a California pavilion and have participation costs waived.
Speakers included Dr. Sung Won Sohn, director of IGER and a world-renowned global economist. Sohn, who serves on the boards of Forever 21 Inc., Western Alliance Bancorp. and Claremont Graduate University, is also a former member of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners.
"To create more jobs and opportunity for Southern California, we need to reach out and find more opportunities to trade with the outside world, especially Asia where the action has been and will continue to be," Sohn said. "A lot of people simply don’t know where to start. Trade Connect gives them a roadmap and puts them in touch with people who are actually able to help."
Sohn learned about Trade Connect programs during his two years as a Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioner. He knows of no other program that offers so many resources for learning about international trade and export opportunities. "As a card-carrying economist, I can tell you that Trade Connect is one of the best dollars spent by the government on any level," Sohn said.
Future Growth
The Asia Trade Forum is one of a series of Trade Connect seminars the Port offers to educate U.S. businesses on exporting to individual countries and specific regions. Trade with Asia benefits Southern California more than any other part of the U.S., and greater opportunity beckons given developing Asia’s projected GDP growth of 6.5 percent in 2014, MacLellan said.
Driving trade with Korea is the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, signed in 2007. The agreement continues to phase in duty-free provisions, which today cover 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products. In 2012, two-thirds of U.S. agricultural exports became duty-free, which is among the factors that have made California Korea’s No. 1 trading partner of all 50 states.
Another positive force for trade with Asia is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an organization whose 10-member nations work collaboratively to accelerate economic growth and prosperity throughout Southeast Asia. Member states represented at Asian Trade Forum 2014 were Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The ASEAN market is home to more than 500 million people whose growing middle class numbers approximately 150 million. In a 2012 survey by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Indonesia was named the most attractive business investment destination among the organization’s member nations. Separately, a 2013 survey by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation ranked Indonesia No. 1 as the world’s most promising country for overseas business.
Also in play is the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral free trade agreement that 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region are negotiating. The region accounted for about one third of U.S. economic growth in the past five years.
TPP countries already comprise the U.S.’ largest goods and services export market, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In 2013, exports of U.S. goods to TPP nations totaled $698 billion – 44 percent of the value of all U.S. goods traded internationally.
"TPP will open the gates of opportunity even wider," said MacLellan, whose team is already organizing Asia Trade Forum 2015. "There’s no time like the present to learn about doing business in Asia."
