<\/p>\n
By David Lawder<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (Reuters) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c General Electric Co would lose a $350-million deal to build locomotives for Angola, and perhaps billions of dollars more in future export opportunities, if Congress closes the U.S. Export-Import Bank, a senior GE executive told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It would be gone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d GE Transportation unit president Russell Stokes said of a not-yet-finalized agreement announced by the global conglomerate in March for 100 lightweight diesel-electric locomotives to be built in Erie, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Up to 1,800 jobs at GE, its suppliers and local businesses in 12 states would be put at risk because, without Ex-Im financing, Angola would buy Chinese-built locomotives, he said.<\/p>\n
GE, along with other major U.S. exporters including Boeing Co and business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, is fighting to save the Ex-Im Bank. The export credit agency\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s critics, mostly conservative Republicans, want Congress to allow Ex-Im\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charter to expire on June 30.<\/p>\n
Stokes spoke to Reuters on Capitol Hill between visits to lawmakers late last week to persuade them to keep the bank open.<\/p>\n
The alternative would be the end of an institution formed 80 years ago to help finance exports of U.S. goods and services, which the bank says counters foreign competition and protects jobs. Ex-Im, funded from fees and interest, generated a $675 million surplus in fiscal 2014 above its operating cost. <\/p>\n
The bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opponents argue that its loans put taxpayers at risk, distort free enterprise and amount to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153corporate welfare.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d GE reported revenues of $149 billion and profits of $15 billion in 2014. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153GE should seek private financing if it wants the Angola deal to go through,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, an advocacy group allied with Republican politicians attacking Ex-Im. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the role of the federal government to secure sales for GE.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But in the fierce international competition for locomotives, GE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stokes said private financing could never compare to the lower rates offered by government-backed export credit agencies. In many emerging markets, including the Angola tender, bidders are required to offer export credit agency financing, he said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d still go out and try to compete, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m telling you it will be very difficult,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On some of these big international tenders like this one, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to lose.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Ex-Im has agreed to finance another $650 million in not-yet-awarded power and infrastructure projects for Angola, and those would go to other countries if the bank dies, Stokes added. <\/p>\n
GE Transportation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 4,500-strong workforce in Erie, plus thousands more at 900 suppliers such as Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp, have benefited from a boom in export orders financed in part by Ex-Im.<\/p>\n
With Ex-Im support, GE last year split a 465-locomotive South African order evenly with China\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s state-run train builders CSR Corp and China CNR. Stokes said the firms are GE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s toughest international competitor, and their pending merger will make them stronger.<\/p>\n
NO HOUSE BILL <\/p>\n
Representative Jeb Hensarling, the leading Ex-Im opponent in Congress, said on Tuesday he was ready to let the bank expire and presented no plans to introduce reauthorizing legislation.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People at Boeing and GE have expended a lot of funds lobbying on this issue,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the Texas Republican told a news conference. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s frankly a bit of bluster.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois said he has a list of seven major export deals that would fall through if Ex-Im closes, and is using it to drum up support for a charter renewal measure that he will try to attach to a transportation funding extension needed in July.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think if we pass through the expiration deadline it will help me gather votes for Ex-Im,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Kirk told reporters. <\/p>\n
GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt in a blog post to GE employees this month said that without Ex-Im, U.S. companies will lose deals to foreign rivals with export credit agency backing or shift some production abroad \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to countries that are more supportive of their exporters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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