Opening shop on the global Main Street.(International feature)

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During the first eight months of 2008, U.S. exports topped $850 billion. International trade remained the main driver behind the nation's economy all year, and was one of the only reasons the country did not see negative gross domestic product (GDP) growth. In 2007, exports accounted for 41% of the United States' economic expansion, and the sector now makes up more than 13% of the nation's GDP, the largest portion ever in U.S. history. Since 2001, exports have nearly doubled from $1 trillion to a record-setting $2 trillion.

Overseas sales are what have kept factory floors bustling and have kept America alive during the financial tailspin that has taken place over the last two years. In attempts to ensure the country's economic strength in the future, the Bush Administration has made international trade one of its top priorities.

"What we've accomplished in these past eight years has been rooted in the President's deeply-held belief that American workers and businesses are the best in the world;' said U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. "It's more important now than ever that we remain committed to free markets, free enterprise and free trade."

Currently, there are some 250,000 small- and medium-sized businesses in the United States that are exporting goods and services. The government has authored free trade agreements (FTA) with a significant number of countries in the last eight years, greatly expanding the global marketplace for American businesses. In 2001, the U.S. had only three FTAs. Now, there are agreements in force with 14 countries with another three countries-Colombia, Panama and South Korea--waiting to be approved by Congress. With those 14 FTA partners, the United States is experiencing a $10.3 billion trade surplus and Gutierrez extols their importance to the health of small businesses.

The push for an increased presence in the global marketplace is driven by the fact that family incomes the world over are on the rise. The world's economic balance is shifting from the rich, industrialized countries more towards emerging markets. Globally, poverty levels are going down and between 1999 and 2004, 138 million people escaped extreme poverty, defined as less than a dollar per day. Child mortality has been cut by 25% since 1990. Worldwide illiteracy rates have tumbled and world growth rates have fallen from 4.8 children per family to 2.6 in the last 25 years. This means families have more money to spend on the open markets.

Hundreds of millions of people that could not afford discretionary expenditures now can, and this creates even more opportunities for U.S. goods and services. Most of the U.S. exports of goods are capital goods, consumer durable goods and inputs used to produce such items. That translates into the U.S. trade position being very sensitive to changes in foreign GDP, but despite the economic slowdown that is weighing heavily on the U.S. and European markets, emerging and developing countries are expected to see growth rates of 6.9%, driven primarily by India and China, but also by solid growth in Africa and Latin America.