U.S. Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, hosted a meeting for North America's Industry Ministers. Tony Clement, Canada’s Minister of Industry, and Bruno Ferrari, Mexico’s Secretary of Economy, were in attendance. They discussed the importance of trilateral cooperation on issues such as the National Export Initiative. The leaders agreed to identify ways to encourage small and medium-sized firms to export their goods and services. Secretary Locked added:

Canada, the United States, and Mexico have a sophisticated and robust trade relationship because of NAFTA...Because our businesses already cooperate in the production of goods and delivery of services, we must work together to develop strategies that will benefit these businesses and the workers of this region.

According to American Shipper, trilateral trade among the NAFTA partners totaled more than $735 billion in 2009. (An increase of 148% since the year before NAFTA’s implementation.)

US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke discusses the Export Initiative on Fox News in the video below. Talking points include:

It appears that the National Export Initiative (NEI) is on track to fulfill the President's goal of doubling exports and creating several million jobs over the next five years. According to this press release, significant progress has already been made on the President's five main objectives:

SupplyChainDigest features some guidance for US exporters looking to take advantage of the National Export Initiative today:

Special thanks to International Trade Law News for the following video about the National Export Initiative. You can also follow them on Twitter at @TradeLawNews.