New Initiatives Announced at SelectUSA Investment Summit

During the SelectUSA Investment Summit, President Barack Obama and Secretary Prtizker announced a number of new initiatives focused on maintaining the United States’ position as a destination for foreign direct investment.

Foreign businesses have injected an average of $67 billion a quarter into the U.S. economy over the last three quarters, compared with an average of $49 billion quarterly from 2009 to 2013, according to Department of Commerce data released last week.

In remarks during the opening day of the Summit, President Obama and Secretary Pritzker outlined new ways the Administration will expand and improve federal services to further attract foreign direct investment. The President announced new actions to make it easier for global companies to launch and invest in the U.S.  This includes clarifying guidelines for global companies seeking to staff new and expanding U.S. operations with specialized knowledge related to their company or industry without impacting job opportunities for U.S. workers. 

Pritzker announced the Commerce Department will establish the first-ever federal advisory committee to solicit input on effective strategies to attract further investment into the United States.

The Commerce Department will build on the success of the SelectUSA Academy, a 101 series of webinars on infrastructure investing that were piloted at the Summit. The Academy provides businesses and investors with online and on-site training programs to help them share ideas and best practices and learn more about investment opportunities from every corner of the United States. SelectUSA has made available on its website for the first time a database of state-level incentives. The Department of Commerce has also made the website clustermapping.us, a joint project of the Harvard Business School and the Economic Development Administration, available to investors and economic developers. The Cluster Mapping website provides data and tools that make it easier for investors to identify regional concentrations of specific industries and locate potential economic partners. SelectUSA is committed to further improving online tools so that investors can more fully consider the advantages offered by the United States.

Also announced during the Summit, the Administration will:

• Establish new partnership with state economic development organizations: At the Summit, SelectUSA convened the first semi-annual collaborative platform for federal and state economic development officials. The partnership will improve state-federal coordination, inform SelectUSA services and programs, and promote high standards in investment-promotion activities across the country.
• New and improved foreign direct investment data coming out this year: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will begin to report new data this year about the impact of foreign direct investment on the U.S. economy, and FDI contributions to employment. The data will allow investors and policymakers to distinguish and assess patterns of “greenfield” investments that establish new U.S. businesses.
• U.S. to be featured at 2016 Hannover Messe: U.S. and German officials announced that the United States, led by the Department of Commerce, will be the featured official “Partner Country” for the 2016 Hannover Messe. Hannover Messe is the largest industrial trade fair in the world, attracting approximately 6,500 exhibitors and 250,000 visitors every year. As Partner Country, the United States will be featured to a global audience as a supplier of high quality products and a prime location for business investment.

Established by the President in 2011, SelectUSA is the first-ever government wide program to promote and facilitate job-creating business investment into the United States. Today, more than 2,600 people—including 1,300 companies from more than 70 countries and over 500 U.S. economic development officials and representatives from all 50 states— attended the second SelectUSA Investment Summit for two days of matchmaking, information sessions, and presentations.

Summit participants had an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with key partners; hear from representatives of 20 different federal agencies; connect with U.S. economic development officials, who were able to talk about their regional assets and their hometown workforce; meet over 45 U.S. Chiefs of Mission, who organized and led delegations from around the world; and meet members of the  Foreign Commercial Service, who connect local communities to global markets, and foreign companies to U.S. markets.