From Seattle to DC and Back (Part 8)

During my time in Washington D.C. at The Washington Center for the US-China Bilateral Trade Internship Program I have been exposed to many new facets of the US-China relationship, trade issues, and future career and learning objectives. Interning at the Department of Commerce has been a rewarding experience not only from what I have learned by answering exporters’ questions but also from the staff in my office. Through this I have come to understand the exporting and trade process in a concrete and practical sense rather than the abstract, theoretical, and vague sense I had from coursework at university. The trade and exporting process involves multiple steps and requires patience and diligence on part of the importer and exporter; this trading process is not clear cut but the practicality of this internship has given me issues to consider in an ordered process rather than just a floating mess of terms and processes that I had from university coursework. Beyond working with practical aspects of exporting I have also worked on various projects with the China Business Information Center (China BIC). These include website maintenance such as subtitling Chinese market brief videos so that they are compliant with federal regulations and creating a sitemap for the China BIC so that pages on the site are easier to find in lists results on search engines. In addition to this I have also made export volume data for China and India that was included in a presentation at a trade expo in Oklahoma City, OK. Furthermore, a fellow intern and I wrote and researched an article that will be published in an online trade journal for the infrastructure industry on China’s stimulus package and business opportunities that exist.

Recently I attended a trade conference and exposition hosted by the US Export and Import Bank. During this conference I was able to gaining a better understanding of all the different businesses involved in this part section of the global business process. Though most businesses were specializing in financing and risk insurance, both public and private companies, also represented there were embassies from a variety of African nations and construction equipment exporters. From this I get the impression that focusing on infrastructure and investment in African will grow soon as I already know that both the US and China have been encouraging investment in Africa.

Consistently during the internship I have been attending events around Washington DC at different institutes and think tanks regarding issues dealing with trade and China. Though it was my intention to write briefs for a majority of these this did not happen as other projects to precedence. Though I did write one brief on an event I went to at Center for Strategic & International Studies on green technology implementation methods in China. I wrote this brief as it dealt directly with my internship in finding market niches in China for US companies, so it would be of interest to the China BIC. This article “Getting the Dragon to go Green” was also submitted for the US-China Bilateral Trade Program Newsletter “Mei-Hua Connection.”

While in Washington DC I have had many opportunities to gain a further understanding of American history. In the DC area there are many interesting things in the city and surrounding area relating to the Civil War. What I found interesting is the two tones of the Washington Monument as construction was halted during the Civil War but that the Capital Dome was continued during the war which required enormous amounts of metal that were needing for arms to fight the war. This continuation in construction of the dome was obviously for morale and symbolic purposes during the war than for practical reasons. Even in the city of Rockville where I am currently living there are monuments and markers for the civil war, I find this interesting as I don’t think of the war taking place this close to the Capital.

From Seattle to DC and Back (Part 7)

On Friday, April 10th I went to a presentation at the Department of Commerce on negotiating with the Chinese. The discussion started out with a simulation between two American representatives on one side of the table with three Chinese and their interpreter on the other side. Though simulation was very entertaining as it was presented in a way that the American side did everything incorrectly and wasn’t prepared while the Chinese negotiators were. Some mistakes the Americans made was not bringing their own interpreter, discussing amongst themselves while the Chinese side was speaking in Chinese, and not inspecting business cards when receiving them from the Chinese side among other things. This Friday was also a colleague’s last day working with us in the TIC as he was on rotation from the NAFTA Secretariat’s office. It was nice being able to work with him as he was in the beginning of his career and had been introduced to Commerce through as internship he had done during university.

On Thursday I went to an International Trade Fair and workshops put on by the US Export-Import Bank. We were able to get into the lunch and watch an award ceremony for export companies, financiers, and brokers. After lunch we went back to the display room and greeted different export-business people. Later I went around to the different tables, got various informational materials and talked with people to get a better feel for what process in exporting they were involved in.

On Friday I submitted our final draft of our article on the Chinese stimulus package and infrastructure opportunities for American companies. It will be sent to others for a final look over before it is sent to the industry organization’s website for posting. That afternoon I went to the Brookings Institute to hear the former Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe given a speech on various security and economic issues. A comment I found interesting was when the PM was asked about piracy on the seas and whether it could lead to further US-China-Japan cooperation in maritime affairs the PM said that he was hopeful that this could be the case in the future given China becomes more transparent.

Nathan Gardner
Boeing Fellow
International Trade Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce

From Seattle to DC and Back (Part 6)

Green energy has also been a theme that keeps reoccurring through the past two weeks as I attended an event at CSIS about encouraging green and smart grid technology in China through public-private partnerships at the local level. This event was refreshing as it discussed a different method of deploying these technologies that didn’t involve a large central government initiative.

A week later we went to a panel at the Washington Center on green technologies and environmental issues that gave a wider view of these issues with panelist from an NGO, a carbon trading investment group, the Department of Energy, and wind energy. Obviously many people are interested in these technologies but has there been any deployment? I was given the answer to this question when I received a tariff request at work for five different HS codes to assemble a wind power turbine tower in Mexico to be exported from the United States.

Nathan Gardner
Boeing Fellow
International Trade Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce