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Blog Category: Look South

Looking South for Your Next Business Opportunities

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Guest blog post by Michael Masserman, Executive Director for Export Policy, Promotion, and Strategy, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

This week Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker announced the Look South Initiative, a movement to help American businesses leverage the Free Trade Agreements the United States shares with 11 countries in Latin America.

The Initiative is an important new part of the Commerce Department’s Open for Business Agenda, supporting American companies looking to increase their global presence.

More and more businesses are exporting, which is leading to record levels of exports for the country. That supports the U.S. economy, and it helps create jobs here at home.

However, most companies that currently export are only taking advantage of one market. Companies exporting to one market average roughly $375,000 in export sales. For a company exporting to two-to-four export markets, that average nearly triples to $1 million in sales. It's clear that exporting to additional markets improves a business's bottom line.

For businesses looking to expand their export markets, "Looking South" is a simple way to start. More than half of our free trade agreements are in Latin America, which generally equates to greater easer in entering those markets. Tariffs are low if they exist at all, which can mean a lower cost of doing business.