The Hill News

A surreal debate is unfolding in Congress over the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im), which will hit its authorized lending cap within weeks. A band of critics is arguing that Ex-Im’s support for American exporters is costly, risky, and unfair. What are the facts?
 
Trade finance has been around for centuries. It’s one of the safest kinds of finance because the goods sold serve as collateral, and the buyer, the seller, and the price have already been set.
 
The vast majority of trade finance is provided by commercial banks, but Ex-Im still has an important role to play covering gaps in financing for U.S. exports where commercial-bank financing is unavailable or faces competition from foreign export credit agencies. Last year, Ex-Im supported export sales that in turn sustained nearly 300,000 U.S. jobs at 3,600 companies.

Read more...