The Office of Advocacy, an independent office within the U.S. Small Business Administration, is holding an international trade outreach meeting in Glendale, CA on June 26 to hear from small businesses about their views on trade agreements in negotiations with Japan, the European Union, and the United Kingdom.
The Office of Advocacy serves as an independent voice for small business within the federal government. In early 2016, Congress passed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, establishing a new role for the Office of Advocacy: to facilitate greater consideration of small business issues during international trade negotiations. The Office of Advocacy is tasked with producing a report to Congress evaluating the small business economic impacts of trade agreements in negotiations, particularly in the services, manufacturing, and agriculture sectors, as well as highlighting small business priorities, opportunities, and challenges. For this report, Advocacy is hosting an outreach meeting in Los Angeles to hear from small business affected by international trade.
The purpose of the outreach meeting is to hear directly from small businesses and their representatives regarding their views on trade agreements being negotiated with Japan, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and their experience doing business in these markets.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. on June 26, 2019. The meeting will be held at the SBA Los Angeles District Office, 330 N Brand Blvd, Suite 1200, Glendale, CA, 91203. Please register here. Further information will be sent out upon registration.
Agenda
8:30 – 9:00 AM Registration
9:00 – 9:10 AM Opening Remarks and Welcome
9:10 – 10:50 AM Discussion on Japan, EU, and UK Small Business Trade Priorities and Challenges
10:50 – 11:00 AM Closing Remarks
Information about the trade agreements being negotiated is available from the U.S. Trade Representative:
If you cannot attend this event but would like to provide your feedback to the Office of Advocacy, please email your name, company, industry and business size (number of employees) to AdvoTradeFeedback@sba.gov.
Outreach meetings are open to all interested persons, except for the press, in order to facilitate open and frank discussion about the potential impacts of trade agreements on small entities. The purpose of these outreach meetings is to exchange opinions, facts and information and to obtain the attendees’ individual views and opinions regarding small business concerns. The meetings are not intended to achieve or communicate any consensus positions of the attendees.