International Trade, Finance, and Competitiveness Issue Area Plan--Fiscal
Years 1995-96 (Letter Report, 07/01/95, GAO/IAP-95-13).
GAO presented its International Trade, Finance, and Competitiveness
issue area plan for fiscal years 1995 through 1996.
GAO plans to: (1) assess the impact of international accords and
organizations on international trade, market access, and trading
partners' financial conditions; (2) evaluate U.S. agencies'
effectiveness in promoting emerging markets and international trade
programs, implementing import laws, and improving agricultural export
finance programs; and (3) review competitiveness indicators, key
employment regulations, institutional investor strategies,
infrastructure projects and productivity, quality workforce efforts, and
cooperative research arrangements.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: IAP-95-13
TITLE: International Trade, Finance, and Competitiveness Issue
Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1995-96
DATE: 07/01/95
SUBJECT: International trade
International agreements
International relations
Agricultural programs
Exporting
Import regulation
International organizations
International cooperation
Economic analysis
Strategic planning
IDENTIFIER: North American Free Trade Agreement
NAFTA
Asia
Mexico
Japan
Russia
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
General Government Division
July 1995
INTERNATIONAL TRADE, FINANCE, AND
COMPETITIVENESS ISSUE AREA PLAN
FISCAL YEARS 1995-96
GAO/IAP-95-13
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0
As the investigative arm of Congress and the nation's auditor, the
General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes. Reflecting stringent standards of
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help Congress target budget reductions; assess financial
information management; and alert Congress to developing trends that
may have significant fiscal or budgetary consequences. In fulfilling
its responsibilities, GAO performs original research and uses
hundreds of databases, or creates its own when information is
unavailable elsewhere.
To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing Congress, each of GAO's 35 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes the significance of the issues it
addresses, its objectives, and the focus of its work. Each issue
area relies heavily on input from congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts in developing its strategic
plan.
The International Trade, Finance, and Competitiveness issue area
covers the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. International Trade Commission,
the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the Foreign Agricultural
Service of the Department of Agriculture, and the International Trade
Administration in the Department of Commerce.
The principal issues in the international trade, finance, and
competitiveness area are
-- assuring that U.S. economic interests are well-served through
international accords and organizations;
-- promoting the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of
government organizations and programs related to international
trade and finance;
-- evaluating whether and how government programs and policies
affect business productivity and the standard of living for
Americans.
In the pages that follow, we describe our key planned work on these
critical issues.
In recognition that events may significantly affect our plan, our
planning process allows for updating the plan and responding quickly
to emerging issues. If you have any questions or suggestions about
this plan, please call me at (202) 512-4812.
Allan Mendelowitz
Managing Director
International Trade, Finance, and Competitiveness
Issues
CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1
FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1
1
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2
4
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3
6
TABLE III: GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4
7
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2
Issue Significance
----------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
International accords: How Congress has recently passed two controversial
can U.S. interests be multilateral trade agreements, NAFTA and GATT,
enhanced through which involved vigorous congressional debate over
participation in bilateral potential trade, economic, and employment effects
and multilateral trade as well as concern about U.S. sovereignty.
agreements and other economic Experience has shown that monitoring trade
institutions? agreements is essential if the United States is
to realize the benefits it attempted to achieve.
Furthermore, these trade agreements are expected
to be expanded over the next few years, leading
to extensive congressional debate about renewing
fast-track negotiating authority for the
President. In addition, the administration will
continue to conduct bilateral negotiations to
enhance U.S. economic interests with such
countries as Japan and Russia.
Government organizations and Thirteen U.S. government agencies collectively
programs: Are U.S. government spend about $3.5 billion annually on export
international trade and promotion programs. Numerous budget, operational,
finance organizations and organizational, and coordination issues need to
programs efficiently managed be addressed to ensure that federal expenditures
and effective in promoting are efficient and effective.
U.S. economic interests?
Competitiveness: How do Fundamental obstacles remain to improving U.S.
government programs and competitiveness in the global economy. Recent
policies affect U.S. productivity increases have not been translated
competitiveness? into higher real wages and an overall improvement
in the standard of living. Many fear that, as a
nation, the United States still provides
inadequate training and education for the U.S.
workforce, insufficient investment in
infrastructure and inadequate long-term
investment in research and development and
capital assets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives Focus of work
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
�Evaluate whether U.S. negotiations �Implementation of NAFTA and Uruguay
achieve the stated objectives in Round agreements and their effects on
international agreements. U.S. interests.
�U.S. and foreign participation in
�Monitor implementation of agreements regional trade agreements.
to ensure they are promoting U.S. �Bilateral trade agreements.
interests. �Efforts to address nontariff trade
barriers.
�Evaluate efforts to establish new
agreements and proposals to strengthen
existing agreements and institutions.
�Identify management improvements, �Implementation of the governmentwide
legislative changes, and regulatory strategic plan for export promotion,
reforms that would improve market including coordination of program goals
development, improve export promotion and operations through the Trade
and financing programs, and produce Promotion Coordinating Committee.
budgetary savings. �Review of Eximbank reinvention efforts
that are designed to improve trade
�Identify ways to improve finance programs to better meet
governmentwide strategic planning, customer financing needs and to improve
budgeting, and program coordination. administrative efficiencies.
�Review of major competitor nations'
�Promote the design of trade programs export credit agencies' export
that respond to other nations' trade financing systems.
and investment practices. �Given the impending 1995 Farm Bill,
monitor and evaluate Agriculture Export
�Identify ways to reduce waste, fraud, Title programs and issues, including
or abuse in agency program management. the revised long-term strategy,
structure, organization, and operation
of revisions to agriculture export
programs, in light of changes resulting
from GATT and NAFTA implementation
legislation.
�Work across GAO issue areas to provide �Studies of macro-and microeconomic
Congress with information and analysis conditions driving business
for assessing the impact of government activities.
activities on competitiveness issues. �Promotion of U.S. economic interests
through trade, development, and other
�Identify competitiveness trade-offs international policies.
and conflicts within/among programs and �Effect of government policies and
policies. programs on saving rate, investment,
and productivity growth.
�Assess the availability and quality of �Efforts to achieve a higher quality
data and evaluation methodologies for workforce.
determining competitiveness impacts. �Efforts to foster a strong technology
base that leads to productivity
growth.
�Contribution of infrastructure
investment to economic development and
business productivity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3
Issue Planned major job starts
------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
International accords --Examine Mexican financial crisis and U.S.
response.
--Assess ability of international financial
institutions to respond to liquidity crises.
--Monitor establishment of the World Trade
Organization.
--Evaluate operations of NAFTA commissions.
--Examine NAFTA accession issues.
--Assess impact of environmental rules and standards
on trade.
--Review status of U.S. trade initiatives in Asia.
--Monitor progress in negotiating trade agreements to
achieve market access for U.S. service sectors.
Government organizations --Evaluate effectiveness of U.S. government project
and programs finance programs in transitional and emerging
markets.
--Examine organizational structure, operations, and
budgetary implications of the Department of
Commerce's management of international trade programs
and activities.
--Monitor the executive branch's implementation of
import laws, including unfair trade practice laws,
import relief laws, and tariff preference programs.
--Examine alternative agricultural export finance
programs and related budgetary implications.
--Review competitor countries' agricultural export
finance programs.
--Review integration of all agricultural export
promotion programs and activities and related
budgetary implications.
Competitiveness --Review competitiveness indicators.
--Review key employment regulations.
--Examine institutional investor strategies.
--Evaluate infrastructure projects and productivity.
--Evaluate quality workforce efforts.
--Analyze cooperative research arrangements.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE III: GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 4
MANAGING DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.1
Allan Mendelowitz (202) 512-4812
DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.2
JayEtta Hecker (202) 512-8984
ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.3
Patrick Gormley
Kenneth Hoeth
John Hutton
Randy Schultz
Elizabeth Sirois
Phillip Thomas
Curtis Turnbow
Susan Westin
*** End of document. ***