Increased market access benefits U.S. small and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs).

• As international trade has liberalized, SMEs have increased exports markedly. Increased market access for SMEs is critical to continued SME success and to the overall health of the domestic economy.
• SMEs comprise 97 percent of all exporters, yet fewer than 1 percent of small businesses export. Of the SMEs that do export, nearly two-thirds of them sell into only one foreign market.
• Expanding market access through free trade is therefore essential for SMEs. Unlike big multinational companies that can afford to establish foreign affiliates to avoid trade barriers, exports are often the only way for SMEs to sell into these markets.

For most SMEs, export markets present an opportunity for significant growth.

• Between 1992 and 2001, the number of SMEs that exported increased by 250 percent — double the growth rate of large-firm exporters over the same period. Even more SMEs export indirectly as suppliers and subcontractors for large exporting firms.
• From 1992 to 2001, SME exports to Brazil surged by 242 percent, while exports to Switzerland increased 227 percent, sales to Malaysia increased 220 percent and sales to China rose 191 percent.

Increased market access is especially crucial for many high-technology SMEs.

• In 2001, SMEs accounted for more than 90 percent of U.S. hightechnology exporters. Small firms employ more than a third of the total U.S. high-technology employees and produce more than half of the new innovations in the United States.
• To help SMEs develop their export business, U.S. Export Assistance Centers coordinate the services of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Export-Import Bank, and other public and private organizations to provide SMEs with export assistance in one central location.