U.S. sees China, India, Brazil key to export growth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will encourage China, India, Brazil and other fast-growing markets to buy more American goods as part of its bid to double exports in five years, a top trade official said on Wednesday.

"That's where the money is and that's where we need to focus," Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sanchez told reporters, noting that 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside the United States.

President Barack Obama set a goal of doubling exports in his State of the Union address and has established a cabinet-level task force to reach that target.

The initiative promises increased U.S. government advocacy for exporters, as well as tougher enforcement of U.S. trade agreements to ensure that other countries are honoring commitments to open their markets.

Sanchez, who began his new job on March 29, said he would be visiting Brazil and China in May, India and Saudi Arabia in June and Canada and Mexico in following months.

The China trip is part of a clean energy trade mission led by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke that overlaps this year's U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue meeting in Beijing.

High U.S. unemployment and the huge U.S. trade deficit with China has put pressure on Obama to get tough with Beijing on currency and other trade matters.

Sanchez said the United States would "clearly and assertively" press Chinese on any concerns, but do that in a way that bolsters trade rather than damages it.

"We and the Chinese need to manage our trade relationship very carefully. It's in neither of our interest to have tensions escalate in a way that's unproductive," he said.

JUST LIKE FRANCE

Sanchez said the Commerce Department would work closely with the Small Business Administration to increase the number small and medium-sized businesses that export.

It will also increase government advocacy for big companies like Boeing that could benefit from friendly U.S. government pressure when trying to make a big sale abroad, Sanchez said.

"I think that's a fair practice. Quite frankly, some countries do it even more aggressively than we do. My understanding is that (French) President Sarkozy has been to Brazil five times in past 12 months and has been quite the commercial advocate on each of those visits," he said.

Sanchez said he also would push to boost U.S. exports of emerging technologies and help U.S. construction and project management services win a share of mammoth infrastructure projects planned in Algeria and Libya.

The Commerce Department also is developing a partnership with the U.S. Export-Import Bank to help them identify small and medium-sized business that might need financing assistance to make an overseas sale, he said.

In the same vein, it will work with United Parcel Service, Fedex and the U.S. Postal Service to spot companies that already export and help them find new markets for their products, he said.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Philip Barbara)