U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2009)

Office of the United States Trade Representative

Remarks by Ambassador Ron Kirk at the Annual District Export Council Conference

November 4, 2009
Annual District Export Council Conference
Washington, DC

*Key Excerpts from Prepared Text*

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

Just last week, I was in China for a meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. I was there to talk about how we could grow our economic relationship and increase trade between our two countries, but it is amazing how many American enterprises - and that includes small businesses - are already doing business in China.

One of those small businesses is a company called Turf Merchants, which employs 14 people in Tangent, Oregon. Their company develops, produces, and markets grass seeds, and they sell those seeds around the world.

Today, they are shipped to more than 20 countries around the world, including China. And the Oregonians hard at work at Turf Merchants owe their jobs and their paychecks, at least in part, to trade.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]