State looks to expand outreach

By Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published May 04, 2008

Washington state opened a new foreign trade office in Beijing a year ago, giving it three offices in China and nine worldwide.

Even so, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen says Washington doesn't think big enough when it comes to international trade. He thinks an office in Latin America might make sense in the future.

And if he does lead a trade mission this fall, he thinks it could be to Turkey and even Israel.

"I think sometimes we put too much focus on China. I say the focus should be the world," Owen said recently in an interview about the 16 trade and cultural missions he has led overseas since taking office in 1997, including trips to China in 2002, 2005 and 2006. "There is expanding potential in places like Brazil."

Washington's nine trade offices are run with contracted services. Those in China are in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. There are two in Japan, and one each in Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan and Germany, the latter also serving the United Kingdom and France.

Other states are busy on the trade front, too. Doug Farquhar, a program director in international trade at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said activity varies widely — with big states such as New York and Illinois surprisingly unwilling to do trade missions while states such as Idaho and Alabama have, like Washington, been aggressive.

Alabama leaders "made a conscious decision they needed to open up a few more markets. … The country they made an aggressive pitch to is India. I don't know of any other state that has an India office," Farquhar said. Conversely, California closed its 15 trade offices around the world at the height of post-Sept. 11, 2001, economic troubles, but has reopened some under Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also has led successful trade missions to China.

Washington's efforts

In Washington, Owen, Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed and Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire have led numerous missions to China, Washington's No. 1 export market ahead of Japan and Canada. But their missions go beyond China — to such places as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and Europe. Others have included Mexico, Brazil, Thailand, Peru, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.