(TheHill, Washington, 5 April 2012) For almost 80 years, the Export-Import Bank of the United States has enjoyed broad bipartisan support while effectively promoting job-creating American exports. But the Ex-Im Bank’s work will grind to a halt shortly without a new authorization… The fight over Ex-Im’s future in Washington is between laissez-faire conservatives who decry corporate welfare, and Bank proponents who say government has a role to play in international competitiveness. Opponents of the Bank argue that its guarantees put taxpayers at risk, distort markets and trade flows and allow the government to “pick winners and losers” in trade. The Ex-Im Bank closes a void in private finance by providing export financing and also helps counter predatory efforts by countries like China to use export financing to grab American business in foreign markets… Virtually all of America’s major global competitors are far more active than the United States in using export financing to back their sales in foreign markets. Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, India and others each provide at least four times more export financing than the United States in relation to GDP. And China? 17 times more!
