United States Commercial Service

The United States Commercial Service (CS), the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration, helps U.S. companies succeed in markets around the world. Led by Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General Suresh Kumar and located across the United States and in U.S. Embassies and Consulates in nearly 80 countries, the CS global network of trade professionals helps thousands of U.S. companies to export goods and services worth billions of dollars every year.

The impact of this work ripples throughout the U.S. economy—broadening and deepening the U.S. exporter base, removing obstacles to the export success of U.S. small and medium-sized companies, advancing U.S. business interests abroad, and supporting job creation here in the United States. In 2009, the CS helped in more than 12,000 export transactions in nearly 200 international markets worth billions of dollars. Further information

The CS helps U.S. small and medium-sized business grow international sales by providing:

* Online and customized market research.
* Support for U.S. exhibitors in selected overseas and domestic trade shows to attract qualified business partners.
* Fee-based programs to introduce exporters of U.S. products to qualified buyers and distributors.
* Individualized trade counseling and advocacy.
* Training programs on subjects such as export documentation, export controls, and the basics of exporting.

The U.S. Commercial Service, through its Strategic Corporate Partnership program, has Public Private Partnership agreements with 17 private organizations, including several banks, legal and regulatory organizations, transportation and shipping organizations, event organizers, trade risk service companies and the publisher of Commercial News USA, the official export promotion magazine of the U.S. Department of Commerce, The ecommerce partner is the Federation of International Trade Associations under which the USCS contributes market research and other reports on GlobalTrade.net.