Swedish Ambassador to the US, Gunnar Lund was one of many speakers encouraging foreign trade—in both directions—as a means of generating growth and investment for both countries.
The Ohio chapter is the 20th to open in the US and this region accounts for huge numbers on the balance sheets of both countries.
Ambassador Lund stressed that foreign trade is more than just commodities and dollars: it represents jobs and investment, as well. When companies expand outside of their own national borders, employees follow. Americans go to other countries to work, while other countries send representatives here. Cleveland is a logical place for this to happen, as it is so centrally located between Chicago and New York, with amazing access to a variety of transportation.
“It’s a win-win situation,” he said, referring to “this considerable flow back and forth with trade and companies that do business, and I think that we could do that on an even grander scale.”
He tempered his optimism, however, by referring to the general world economy and that of the US in particular. “Right now it looks fine because you have pretty fast and steady growth in the US economy, and certainly in this region and we have the same in Northern Europe, and in Sweden, in particular. It looks good right now, but you know what goes up must come down, and I’m concerned particularly these days that the US economy has been growing pretty fast. But its been doing that at the cost of one or two very big deficits. One in the budget of the US and the other on the trade balance in the rest of the world. This has got to be corrected sooner or later, and I think it will do so in the next few years to come. That may go well and without too much damage to growth and economy, but it could also be more disruptive and actually cause a recession. The dollar could come down very substantially, so we could be in for a rough ride for a couple of years.”
He went on to say, “Of course, when that happens, trade always goes down, and you may have difficulties between Europe and the US. Another thing that I fear both in Europe and the US is protectionism. You know, when growth slows down and people begin to lose their jobs, they generally become eager to protect what they have, and they try to prevent international trade from taking place. They try to have their government raise trade barriers. We could very well have a development like that. There are signs both here and in Europe that are very disturbing.”
However, Sweden intends to remain a major player on the US side, as it unveils a new embassy building in Washington, DC, later this year.
The SACC-Ohio chapter will do its part, as well. Already, several new member companies have joined since the opening reception. For information, call (216) 621-4995.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net (:divend:)