Kathe Falls

When Kathe Falls first heard that the U.S. Department of Commerce was creating the Invest in America program to encourage more foreign direct investment, she was concerned about the addition of an unfunded federal program, especially one whose responsibilities have long been entrusted to the states. 

Ms. Falls, director of international trade in the global commerce division at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, told GlobalAtlanta that the federal government has “not touched” foreign direct investment since the early 1980s, and she was wary when the program was established in March 2007. 

But the government soon rolled out more information about how the International Trade Administration’s new promotional program would interact with state government efforts to attract business to their respective states.

“The official policy is that when commercial officers are giving presentations in their countries, they will include a spiel about investing in the U.S.,” Ms. Falls said, adding that U.S. officers are not supposed to favor particular states.  “The policy is to give international investors a list of the full 50 states.”

Ms. Falls who recently talked about the program at a Georgia Economic Developers Association conference in Savannah, said that the plan has made enough concessions to withstand scrutiny from many states.

“I don’t think this is an initiative that is today’s fad and gone tomorrow,” she said.

David Bohigian, an assistant secretary in the Department of Commerce who recently visited Atlanta to speak on free trade agreements, echoed Ms. Falls’ assertion that certain states would not receive preferential treatment.

“If someone asks us about Michigan or Minnesota, we say America.  If someone asks us about California or Canada, we say America,” said Mr. Bohigian, who added that the U.S. has offices in more than 80 countries, boasting a reach that no state could hope to achieve on its own. 

Georgia currently has 10 commercial offices abroad and will open its 11th in Beijing late this year or in early 2008.

Considering the vastness of the global economy and each state’s inability to cover it comprehensively, Mr. Bohigian told GlobalAtlanta that the Invest in America program is meant to offer accompaniment for the states’ efforts. 

“We think there is a role to play for the federal government as background music for the states,” he said.

The program will do this through its more than 1,000 officers worldwide, who will be afforded multiple opportunities in their presentations to talk about the U.S. as an investment destination, Mr. Bohigian said. 

Mr. Bohigian compared the frequency of these presentations to former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental movie and slideshow presentation, “An Inconvenient Truth.”  

While Mr. Gore’s 1,000 presentations have had a significant impact for the cause he espouses, Mr. Bohigian said that these U.S. presentations will increase exponentially as officers gain multiple opportunities, providing the program with increased market penetration.

In addition to attracting investors, the program also aims to impact policies relating to foreign investment as well as help introduce foreign company representatives to the U.S. economy and government system. 

These changes have come at a time when foreign investment is more important than ever before, according to Mr. Bohigian. 

Ms. Falls said that the program was “directly linked” to the national security outcry in America over Dubai Ports World’s attempt at a business deal that would have given the company control over major operations at six U.S. ports in February 2006.

When public uproar kept the Middle Eastern company from making the deal, “the feeling in other countries was that the United States was not a good place to invest,” Ms. Falls said. 

The issue brought foreign investment to the forefront of Americans’ minds, according to Mr. Bohigian, and served as a gauge of how willing Americans were to tolerate foreign ownership of America-based enterprises. 

Mr. Bohigian was pleased when President Bush countered critics of Dubai Ports World by offering his and the nation’s “unequivocal support” for foreign investment in the United States. 

Although the Dubai ports issue struck a nerve with Americans and the outsourcing of American jobs overseas has consistently been a hot-button issue, foreign investment still plays a significant role balancing out the American economy, according to statistics released by Aaron Brickman, the director of the Invest in America program. 

More than 5 million U.S. workers are employed by U.S. affiliates of foreign firms, and 4.6 million more jobs depend indirectly on foreign investment, according to Mr. Brickman’s Department of Commerce statistics.

Foreign direct investment flows into the U.S. totaled $175.4 billion in 2006, and Mr. Brickman said these numbers aren’t comprehensive because they don’t quantify the real economic impact that comes from jobs created.

These statistics don’t “even count the diner outside the plant gate,” Mr. Brickman told GlobalAtlanta.

Mr. Bohigian highlighted America’s higher education, strength as an innovation center and openness to foreign investment as some of the main reasons foreign companies should invest in the U.S.

Although he acknowledged that it has sometimes been difficult for foreigners to attain employment visas in the U.S., he said that the Invest in America program is driving policy innovation to help reform the system. 

Ms. Falls was concerned that the Invest in America program would take federal funding away from state programs specifically geared toward small- to medium-sized businesses, but Mr. Bohigian said the staff in Washington is now very small, and it will approach Congress for expansion funding if the program succeeds.

For more information about the program, visit http://trade.gov/investamerica/.