By Christina Sevilla, Deputy Assistant USTR for Small Business
A key goal of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) is to identify new ways to help small businesses compete globally. We’re working to increase small business participation in transatlantic supply chains, and businesses across the U.S. and the EU are eager for the opportunities that T-TIP will deliver when complete. This week I travelled to Poland and met with several local companies doing business in and supporting jobs across the U.S., and who are interested in expanding trade through T-TIP.
During my visit, I toured the ROSA Lighting factory, a small Polish business that stands to benefit from T-TIP. ROSA manufactures custom outdoor street lamps with 250 workers, uses American-made diodes and other parts in their products, and exports to 50 countries in Europe and the Middle East. It’s a perfect example of how small businesses in communities around the world are tied to the global marketplace and supply chains to produce and sell their goods.
At the ROSA Lighting factory. From L to R: Stanislaw Rosa, CEO, ROSA Lighting; Christina Sevilla, USTR; Klaudia Czech, Commercial Director, ROSA; Lori Cooper, U.S. Department of Commerce; Artur Rosa Technical Director, ROSA; Angela Palazzolo, U.S. Embassy Warsaw
ROSA recently completed a project in San Diego, California and is interested in expanding relationships with American suppliers of electrical equipment, which will support more jobs in the U.S. CEO Stanislaw Rosa hopes that T-TIP will strengthen US-EU cooperation and unlock more opportunities by increasing interest in U.S. and Poland small business partnerships. These sentiments were echoed throughout the meeting of the Fourth European Congress of Small and Medium Enterprises, where I spoke with several European small businesses looking to expand their businesses through T-TIP.
At RYTM-L. From L to R: Christina Sevilla, USTR; Jerzy Wodecki, CEO, RYTM-L; Marcin Bujakowski, Logistics Manager, RYTM-L
Not too far from ROSA is RYTM-L, a manufacturer of flame retardants and other aerosols for the auto and construction industries with 50 workers. During my visit, CEO Jerzy Wodecki told me that he hopes T-TIP will make it easier for U.S. and EU businesses to comply with each other’s regulations for chemicals and to get their products approved and certified by each other’s governments, which is often a costly process for small businesses. Jerzy pointed out that his company uses chemical compounds and valves from U.S. suppliers as inputs into his company's finished products, which are then exported throughout the EU. It is a win-win-- the kind that we’re working toward throughout T-TIP.
The U.S. and Poland have a two-way trade relationship of $8.7 billion, supporting jobs at small and medium enterprises in Poland and across America through vital supply-chain relationships. Less red tape, decreased tariffs, increased efficiency, and strengthened small business cooperation are just a few of the ways T-TIP can help even more small businesses grow.
To learn more about how T-TIP will benefit your small business, please click here.
