Fitzgerald braces for merger, staff cuts in state trade office. (Mike Fitzgerald, director of Washington (State) Department of Trade and Economic Development)

State trade officials are trying to figure out how to make less into more.

For Mike Fitzgerald, director of the Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED), the tasks are several: to make the department more reflective of the state's economic needs and to cut its budget by 8 percent, while at the same time preparing for the merger with the Department of Community Development, now scheduled for July 1, 1994.

Meanwhile, Export Assistance Center director Ken Keach is playing with spreadsheets as he searches for ways to provide the same service despite a 25 percent budget cut.

After threatening much larger cuts, the Legislature finally cut the trade …