President Franklin Roosevelt created the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) in 1934 to promote US trade in the midst of the Great Depression. At the outset, the Ex-Im Bank was instructed to supplement, not compete with, private sources of export finance. Historically, the Ex-Im Bank filled gaps when the private sector was reluctant to finance exports to politically uncertain areas--such as Latin America in the 1940s, Europe in the 1950s, and emerging markets more recently. Critics now ask whether--in the current era of vast private capital markets--significant financing gaps still exist that require government action. Put bluntly, should the Ex-Im Bank still be playing a role in financing US exports to emerging markets? Since the 1970s, the Ex-Im Bank has faced a new challenge: helping US exporters meet the financial competition from foreign export credit agencies (ECAs)--such as COFACE in France and the Export-Import Bank of Japan. The Ex-Im Bank has tried to cope with foreign ECAs in two different ways. One way is to negotiate common rules for export financing, under OECD auspices. The other is to match credit terms offered by foreign ECAs. A central question for the Ex-Im Bank in the 21st century is whether this dual strategy still provides a viable answer to an array of new forms of competition spawned by foreign ECAs. The Institute for International Economics sponsored a conference in May 2000, both to honor the Bank's 65th anniversary and to look ahead at challenges facing the Ex-Im Bank. This volume--edited by former director of the Bank, Rita Rodriguez, and Institute Senior Fellow Gary Clyde Hufbauer--presents the papers from the conference. The papers both describe the Bank's current environment and identify new problems and opportunities in a global economy characterized by highly sophisticated private finance and intense competition for export markets. This volume provides an analytical basis for evaluating the Ex-Im Bank's future and suggests options that should be considered by President George W. Bush and Congress. Contributors: Robert Rubin * James Harmon * Lorenz Schomerus * J. David Richardson * Renato Sucupira * Mauricio Moreira * William Cline * Peter Evans * Kenneth Oye * Allan Mendelowitz * William Niskanen * Robert Nardelli * John Lipsky * Daniel Zelikow *Robert Hormats * Hans Reich * A. Ian Gillespie * Fumio Hoshi * William Daley * James Leach * Lawrence Summers

ÔProfessor SakmarÕs book is a must-read for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the most dynamic segment of the global energy industry.Õ Ð Jay Copan, Executive Director, LNG 17 ÔProfessor SakmarÕs book provides a well-rounded overview of the global role that natural gas is expected to play in the future and the important role of LNG as a means of transporting gas to where it is needed. Readers will find the book to be a very convenient compendium of relevant global information and an important educational, informational resource.Õ Ð Ronald D. Ripple, Director, Centre for Research in Energy and Minerals Economics, Curtin University, Australia ÔUnderstanding global energy markets Ð what forces shape them and what trends define them Ð is critical for any professional trying to evaluate new energy developments and technological directions. Susan SakmarÕs impressive ability to provide this context in terms of LNG markets makes her book valuable.Õ Ð Warren R. True, Sr., Chief Technology Editor, Oil & Gas Journal ÔWith clear and direct text, supplemented with key maps, charts and graphics from government, industry and other sources, the book moves the reader smoothly through the early history of LNG up to current developments, including shale gas and North American LNG exports. The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding global gas markets and the energy policy challenges facing us in the 21st century.Õ Ð Jacqueline L. Weaver, A.A. White Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center, US Countries around the world are increasingly looking to liquefied natural gas (LNG) Ð natural gas that has been cooled until it forms a transportable liquid Ð to meet growing energy demand. Energy for the 21st Century provides critical insights into the opportunities and challenges LNG faces, including its potential role in a carbon-constrained world. This comprehensive study covers topics such as the LNG value chain, the historical background and evolution of global LNG markets, trading and contracts, and an analysis of the various legal, policy, safety and environmental issues pertaining to this important fuel. Additionally, the author discusses emerging issues and technologies that may impact global LNG markets, such as the development of shale gas, the prospects of North American LNG exports, the potential role of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum and floating LNG. The author contextualizes the discussion about the importance of LNG with an analysis of why the 21st century will be the Ôgolden ageÕ of natural gas. Accessible and non-technical in nature, this timely book will serve as an essential reference for practitioners, scholars and anyone else interested in 21st century energy solutions.

Drawing on US and international sources Ray traces the development of international rules governing the use of official export credits and makes specific proposals for reducing their cost through enhanced international cooperation. Ray also includes basic documents dealing with export credits and aid-credit competition; these will provide an invaluable reference library for those concerned with export credit policy.

Addresses the opportunities & challenges involved in the greater opening of Asia Pacific markets for U.S. companies. Outlines a number of steps that could be taken to enhance American trade & investment relations with the Asia Pacific region. Presents observations, findings & recommendations on trade imbalance, investment, tariffs, private & public anti-competitive practices, anti-trust laws, & the importance of high technology to U.S. competitiveness. Charts, tables, graphs, & references. Appendix includes an overview of U.S. trade relations with the Asia Pacific region, 1980-1995. Also includes a 22-page report by the U.S. Nat. Comm. for Pacific Economic Coop., Beyond the Trade Bill: The Coming Pacific AdjustmentÓ (Jan. 1988).

This is the first history of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im) based on archival sources. As the government's exports credit agency, Ex-Im promotes exports through loans, guarantees and insurance and has had an unusual history as a public institution shaped by market principles. Congress mandated that the Bank only provide credit with a reasonable assurance of repayment. But the rules of the market and the needs of the state conflicted at times. Ex-Im has played a part in all the major events that marked the growing involvement of the United States in the international economy. In the last two decades, the bank has carried on its congressionally mandated mission in an increasingly complicated environment brought on by changes in private capital markets; congressional constraints on its budgets; major financial crises in Latin America and South-East Asia; fast-moving developments in communications and information technology and the demands of non-governmental organisations devoted to environmental protection.

In The Latecomer's Rise, Muyang Chen reveals the nature and impact of a rapidly growing form of international lending: Chinese development finance. Over the past few decades, China has become the world's largest provider of bilateral development finance. Through its two national policy banks, the China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim), it has funded infrastructure and industrial projects in numerous emerging markets and developing countries. Yet this very surge and magnitude of capital has raised questions about the characteristics of Chinese bilateral lending and its repercussions on the international order. Drawing on a variety of novel Chinese primary sources, including interviews and official bank documents, Chen pinpoints the distinctiveness of Chinese bilateral development finance, explains its origins, and analyzes its effects. She compares Chinese policy banks with their foreign counterparts to show that the CDB and China Exim, while state-supported, are in fact also market-oriented—they are as much government organs as they are profit-driven financial agencies that serve both state and firms' interests. This approach, which emerged out of China's particular economic history, suggests that Chinese overseas lending is not merely a tool of economic statecraft that challenges Western-led economic regimes. Instead, China's responses to extant rules, norms, and practices across given issue areas have varied between contestation and convergence. Rich with empirical detail and penetrating insights, The Latecomer's Rise demystifies the little-known workings of Chinese development finance to revise our conceptions of China's role in the international financial system.