Obama spoke in his State of the Union address of doubling the nation's export flow.
A report released by the Brookings Institution, "Export Nation: How U.S. Metros Lead National Export Growth and Boost Competitiveness," studied the role that exports play in economic recovery and growth, and how that can be achieved through the nation's 100 largest metropolitan cities. San Jose, with 23 out of every 100 jobs, has the largest percentage of export jobs in large metropolitan areas, and is eighth in total export jobs.
"If the President will succeed in doubling exports, it will have to happen in our cities," Reed said.
"If we could double exports that would mean a couple hundred thousand jobs for us in the Silicon Valley," he said.
Also on the panel with Reed were Bryan Ashley, chief marketing officer of Suniva, Inc., J. Bradford Jensen, senior fellow of Peterson Institute for International Economics McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, Sean Randolph, president of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, and the panel was moderated by Chrystia Freeland, global editor-at-large at Reuters.
The timing of the panel discussion and Reed's representation of San Jose and Silicon Valley was key as policymakers draft key provisions of the policy, Reed said.
"We wanted to have a chance to Silicon Valley's interest on the table. We want to make sure the national policies match our interests," he said.
According to the White House blog on the subject, "The National Export Initiative will increase access to trade financing for businesses that want to export goods while also increasing the amount of trade-financing export-import offers to support small and medium-sized businesses."
Reed is working on getting a branch of the Export-Import Bank in San Jose and will work to link the bank with Silicon Valley's venture capital community.
It may take about six months for that to happen and will be largely dependent on when the President passes a budget.
