World Trade Week, 2011

Proclamation 8677 of May 13, 2011

World Trade Week, 2011

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

American businesses embody the ingenuity and
entrepreneurship that has defined our Nation since its
founding, and they consistently reinvent themselves to
adapt to changing times. As we recover from a historic
economic recession, enterprising commercial leaders
continue to look beyond our borders to supply the world
with innovative and technologically advanced products
and services. Millions of jobs in the United States are
tied to exports, and our world continues to grow more
interdependent.

World Trade Week is a time to highlight the vital
connection between the global economy and the
prosperity of our own country. Our 21st-century economy
requires American businesses and workers to compete in
an international marketplace. To ensure our success, we
must advance a robust, forward-looking trade agenda
that emphasizes exports and domestic job growth.

Last year, my Administration launched the National
Export Initiative, an effort to marshal the full
resources of the Federal Government behind America's
businesses, large and small, and help them sell their
goods, services, and ideas to the world. Though the
United States remains a leading exporter, this
Initiative is redoubling our efforts to ensure American
companies have free and fair access in trade, and it is
building on our successes in export-driven growth.
Through this effort, we can help even more American
companies grow, compete, and thrive in global markets
and help reach our goal of doubling exports in 5 years
by 2015. In turn, those companies will be able to hire
more American workers to produce the goods and services
they sell to customers around the world.

By out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the
rest of the world, we can keep Americans working and
export more of the high-quality products and services
for which our workers and companies are admired. With a
commitment to winning the future, we can continue to
lead the world in attracting the jobs, businesses, and
industries of tomorrow.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 15 through May
21, 2011, as World Trade Week. I encourage all
Americans to observe this week with events, trade
shows, and educational programs that celebrate and
inform Americans about the benefits of trade to our
Nation and the global economy.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two
thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.