Advocacy Attorney Represents Advocacy at 11th United States-European Union Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Workshop – Augsburg, DEU

By Rosalyn Steward, Assistant Chief Counsel

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, in Augsburg, Germany, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, and the Small Business Administration convened the U.S.-EU SME Workshop with the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade and Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. The conference is an ongoing opportunity for small businesses to engage directly and discuss relevant topics with government officials from the United States, the European Commission and EU Member States as well as SMEs and associations from both sides of the Atlantic.

The location alternates each year between the United States and the European Union. Topics for discussion included promoting SME growth through U.S.-EU trade opportunities; empowering SMEs, startups and scale-ups including an update on the work of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council to promote SME access to and use of digital tools; SME access to finance; and creating an environment for SMEs to succeed during the post-pandemic transition through economic development and workforce development strategies

Assistant Chief Counsel Rosalyn Steward represented the SBA Office of Advocacy in moderating an SME Access to Finance panel that included small business financing experts in government policy and programs, as well as private sector business owners. The discussion touched on the power of Fintech to provide SMEs with access to finance that aren’t being serviced through traditional banks. The U.S. and the E.U. have the largest trade and investment relationship in the world, with goods and services trade reaching $1.1 trillion in 2021. Nearly 95 percent of all U.S. exporters to the EU in 2020 (latest data available) were SMEs.

Rosalyn Steward is Assistant Chief Counsel for International Trade. She can be reached at Rosalyn.steward@sba.gov.