Excerpt: A new U.S. cabinet department dedicated to trade would give the government a more complete view of trade and the national economy, said a former chairwoman of the International Trade Commission. President Obama earlier this month proposed consolidating into one department the U.S. Trade Representative, Export-Import Bank, Small Business Administration, Overseas Private Investment Corp., U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the Commerce Department’s core business and trade functions. “Reorganizing to streamline exports has become and has always been an afterthought,” Paula Stern said Friday at the National Foreign Trade Council. “We were not looking at the totality of what U.S. policy should be.”
http://www.joc.com/trade/former-itc-head-backs-obamas-push-single-trade-agency 

Excerpt: President Obama said he is elevating the Small Business Administration to Cabinet-level status Friday and asked Congress for authority to merge SBA and other agencies that handle business and trade functions into a single department…. “My guess is that this is probably [dead on arrival],” said Bill Reinsch, a former Senate staffer and Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration who now heads the National Foreign Trade Council. “I don’t think the House will be disposed to give him this authority, regardless of the merits of his proposal.”

http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20120113/AGENCY04/201130302/1018/DEPARTMENTS

Excerpt: A proposal by President Barack Obama to reorganize U.S. trade agencies would force together departments that have different missions, something industry groups say may diminish effectiveness…. Lumping those functions together could hurt both. Negotiators may be more likely to add exceptions to accords, hampering enforcement, said William Reinsch, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council. “You don’t want your trade negotiator to be the arbiter of trade law and enforcement,” Reinsch said. “The concessions to trade laws would be overwhelming.”http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-13/obama-s-reorganization-raises-concerns-about-trade-effectiveness.html

Excerpt: President Obama’s plan to streamline several agencies within the executive branch landed with a thud among trade advocates on Friday. Lawmakers and businesses groups expressed concern that the White House plan to merge a number of trade and commerce agencies, especially the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, could stymie trade and job creation. … National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch said the plans to consolidate USTR “could interfere with efforts to engage key stakeholders, including the U.S. business community, and to maximize trade, economic growth and job creation.” “Congress has historically been reluctant to combine USTR with other functions, preferring to have our chief trade negotiator concentrate on negotiating rather than be burdened with broader programmatic responsibilities,” he said. Coalition for Employment Through Exports President John Hardy Jr. said that any efforts beside merging the agencies into one building “will most likely result in reduced responsiveness to the needs of U.S. exporters.””In our experience, we have found that smaller, more nimble agencies are better able to respond to the needs of American business, a reality that this proposal seems to ignore,” he said. http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1005-trade/204135-white-house-reorganization-proposal-lands-raises-concerns-among-trade-advocates