by Tim Herbert

Last month I visited scenic Ogden, Utah at the base of the Wasatch Mountain range. Ogden’s aptly phrased city slogan, It’s All Within Reach, made me want to heed the advice and take advantage of the amazing hiking and mountain biking nearby. As I contemplated a return visit during the winter for some skiing, the slogan also reminded me of my visit to Kimber Kable as part of CEA’s America Wins with Trade tour. Admittedly, I was a little skeptical of a bus tour’s ability to generate enthusiasm for the somewhat dry topic of trade (and this is coming from someone with an economics degree), but Ray Kimber, founder and CEO of Kimber Kable blew me away with his inspirational story and his poignant reminder of how overseas markets are the lifeblood of small companies such as his. Ray is the quintessential inventor that turns his crazy dreams and ideas into meaningful innovations and cool products.

On hand at Kimber Kable were Matthew Godfrey, mayor of Ogden, Dave Hardman, president, Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce, Lew Cramer, executive director, World Trade Center Utah, David Kavanaugh, deputy assistant secretary for trade, U.S. Treasury Department, many local business leaders, and last but not least, the Weber State cheerleading squad. All in all there were about 100 people in attendance. It was quite the party – and it should be. Trade ultimately enriches U.S. companies, workers and consumers so it’s worth celebrating.

Consider:

On a revenue basis, the United States exports more technology products than any other category – U.S. companies sell hundreds of billions of dollars of tech products each year to buyers around the world. These buyers have the option to purchase from any seller, but they opt for U.S. products – most often, because U.S. tech products are the most cutting-edge, the most innovative and offer the highest quality. Kimber Kable, which produces a range of high-end products, epitomizes this concept. Ray shared a few stats confirming that he does significantly more business overseas than in the U.S. The example that really jumped out at me was the amount of product Kimber Kable exports to a tiny country like Serbia exceeds that of its sales in all the Midwestern states of the U.S. combined.

Without trade, the consumer electronics industry in the U.S. would be significantly smaller. This year alone, CEA Market Research expects the CE industry to generate $173 billion in sales (at the wholesale level) in the U.S., or roughly $2 billion in Utah alone. This translates to 4.4 million U.S. jobs or 75,000 in Utah. When you factor in the upstream and downstream jobs contingent on the electronics industry, the figure is actually over 15 million.

These are the relatively easy figures to measure, but what is not so easy to measure is the amount of enjoyment and utility CE products provide consumers. The ability to communicate with loved ones, the ability to capture and share memories, the ability to work or play anywhere at anytime and the ability to enjoy an amazing experience with music or movies. These intangibles are what drive so many innovators and entrepreneurs, such as Ray Kimber, to keep producing amazing new products (the music demo he gave us at his warehouse was so incredible that I will have a hard time going back to my home stereo system).

But we should never take innovation and entrepreneurship for granted. The majority of new job growth in the U.S. comes from small businesses and entrepreneurs. Without access to new markets around the world, these businesses will suffer and the U.S. economy will suffer. There has been a lot of negativity surrounding trade this year and much of it stems from a general lack of understanding of how trade works and how trade ultimately benefits U.S. companies, workers and consumers. Ray Kimble’s story and the continued efforts of the America Wins with Trade tour will hopefully remind everyone that with trade, it really is all within reach…

Weber State Cheerleaders Cheer for Free Trade.

Popularity: 9% [?]

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Free Trade. Reply to this post, or trackback from your own site. Follow responses to this entry through the comments RSS feed.