Responding to Global Trade Shifts: Safeguarding Washington's Competitiveness — Washington State Department of Commerce (October 30, 2025)
- Issuer
- Congressional materials
- Date
- 2025-10-30
Summary
A slide presentation titled Responding to Global Trade Shifts: Safeguarding Washington's Competitiveness, given to the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee on October 30, 2025 by Karl Dahlgren and Radi Simeonova of the Washington State Department of Commerce's Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness. The slides describe export assistance and investment attraction work and state that new tariffs effective August 7 threaten Washington exporters. They report results from the 2025 Paris Air Show, where 78 delegates represented 24 Washington companies, and from the Fruit Attraction expo in Madrid. They describe the SBA-funded State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), stating that 395 small businesses used it last year and reported $39 million in international sales, and warn that federal funding for it is at risk.
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“Responding to Global Trade Shifts: Safeguarding Washington's Competitiveness — Washington State Department of Commerce (October 30, 2025).”
Original at app.leg.wa.gov, dated 2025-10-30. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2025-10-30-2025-10-30-a33484-d289836-commerce-karl-dahlgren-radi-simeonova-responding-to-global-t/
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Responding to Global Trade
Shifts: Safeguarding
Washington’s Competitiveness
A Presentation to the Senate Business,
Financial Services & Trade Committee
Karl Dahlgren & Radi Simeonova
OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS (OEDC)
OCTOBER 30, 2025
International trade efforts at the
Department of Commerce
How our business units are
structured within the Office of
Economic Development and
Competitiveness (OEDC).
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 2
Today’s discussion: Key points
• Export assistance and new business development
• Creating jobs and growth opportunities for small businesses, attracting industries,
expanding tax base
• Changing global trade environment
• Sweeping new tariffs
• Two examples of our work
• Paris Air Show and Fruit Attraction
• Federal funding and State’s competitiveness at risk
• The State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), a critical tool to help Washington small
businesses access the global marketplace
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 3
Exports strengthen communities
and grow the Washington economy
Markets Over 95% of world consumers and 75% of the
world’s purchasing power reside outside the U.S.*
Employment Two of every five jobs are tied to global trade
Higher wages Exports increase earnings by 18% on average
across the U.S. manufacturing industries*
Resilience Exporting helps companies ride out economic
downturns
Efficiency Fully use existing production capabilities
Profits Companies that export tend to be more profitable than
those that don’t
*Source: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 4
Changing trade environment
Sweeping new tariffs, effective August 7
Small Business Export Assistance
• The new tariffs threaten Washington exporters putting revenues, jobs, and our
state’s global competitiveness at risk
• Reduce access to key foreign markets
• Retaliation from other countries makes products more expensive and less competitive
• Supply chain disruptions raise costs for manufacturers and exporters relying on imported inputs
• Declining exports mean slower production, job losses, and reduced spending in both
rural and urban communities
• Exporters are seeking our support to navigate these unprecedented trade barriers
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 5
Changing trade environment
Continued…
Investment attraction Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
• Tariffs drive companies to localize operations U.S. presence reduces trade
exposure
• FDI offers a stable path amid shifting global trade policies
• International engagement supports resilient supply chains
• States with active outreach gain a competitive edge
• Now is the time to capture relocating global investment
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 6
Our overseas representation is at risk
Canada
Europe
Japan
S. Korea
Mexico Taiwan
India
S.E. Asia/
Vietnam
S. America/
Brazil
Blue: State funding
Red: Potential loss of Federal funding (STEP)
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 7
2025 Paris Air Show June 15-22, 2025
Hear what our delegates have to say…
“The advantage of attending the
Paris Air Show is that everyone is
there—key partners, customers,
and industry leaders are ready to
talk aerospace .”
Sebastien Doucet, Aerospace
Sector Leader, HDR
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 8
2025 Paris Air Show continued…
Paris Air Show exposure
• The world’s largest aerospace trade show, with 305K visitors, 2400 exhibitors, 48 countries
• Delegates connect with key players in the civil, defense, and space industries
• Washington State Pavilion offers a prime location and visibility
• Affordable and effective way to promote Washington companies, and their products and services
Largest delegation of companies
• In 2025, we welcomed 78 delegates representing 24 Washington companies
Business-to-business (B2B) matchmaking meetings with potential buyers
• Held 61 meetings with 35 companies
Meetings with global industry clusters
• Northern Ireland, Wales, Italy, Austria, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 9
Fruit Attraction, Madrid Sept 30-Oct 2, 2025
Agriculture Technology Expo — 2,000 exhibitors/56 countries
Our delegation included 11
companies from across the state
Ag Drones Northwest – Cle Elum (Kittitas County)
Chuy’s Cherries – Wenatchee (Chelan County)
EcoFos – Spokane
Efeeo – Seattle
Felix Instruments – Camas (Clark County)
Iunu – Seattle
Nvirovate – Seattle
Orchard Robotics – Bellevue
Ryp Labs – Bothell (Snohomish County)
Tupl – Bellevue
VNS Sales – Addy (Stevens County)
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 10
How we encourage investment
Lead generation: Real results from the Paris Air Show
• Held 70+ business and multiplier meetings
• Generated 20 new qualified prospects
• Boosted investment attraction efforts at local level with 6 local econ dev partners
• Aerospace accounts for 20%+ of our state investment pipeline
• Presence at global shows is critical to compete with other U.S. states
Project opportunities: Economic growth in action
• Example: New sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project leads
• Seeking large emitters as feedstock partners
• Estimated 150–200 new jobs
• Project requires 100+ MW of power
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 11
Recruitment projects in the project pipeline
Industry Percent of recruitment effort
Aerospace 20%
How we build our pipeline
Clean technology 20%
We consistently target key trade shows
Manufacturing 17%
and services that help us build our project
Food and beverage processing 8%
pipeline.
Forest products 5%
Information and communication
5% Roughly 35-40% of our active projects are
technology
linked to foreign investors.
Data centers 4%
Professional services 4% Being visible at major tradeshows is
Unspecified/other 3% essential for building and maintaining
Agriculture 2% these relationships.
Construction 2%
Recycling 2%
Maritime 1%
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 12
Federal funding is at risk:
State Trade Expansion Program (STEP)
• What is STEP?
o Funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA)
o STEP helps small businesses sell products and services abroad and grow through exporting
o Year 13 maximum federal award ($900K)
o Export vouchers up to $10K / small business
o International trade events more than 10 per year
o Overseas consultants
• When the federal government shutdown ends The SBA will give further guidance
about this fiscal year’s grant award
• Waitlist When the program was halted, 50+ small businesses had already applied for STEP
• Just last year 395 small businesses across the state used STEP, collectively reporting $39
million in international sales
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 13
Our competitiveness is at risk
• Federal funding is critical Federal grants provide essential funding for
trade and export promotion
• Potential loss of STEP funding Reduced competitiveness, revenue, jobs
• Loss of presence at key trade shows Ends face-to-face connection and
collaboration with global partners
• Washington must remain visible On the global stage
• We had the largest footprint among 23 U.S. states exhibiting at the 2025 Paris Air Show
• We were the ONLY state present at Fruit Attraction
• Risk of long-term impacts On Washington small businesses, communities
and local jobs
WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 14
Thank you www.commerce.wa.gov
www.commerce.wa.gov
Karl Dahlgren
SMALL BUSINESS EXPORT ASSISTANCE, OEDC
Karl.Dahlgren@commerce.wa.gov
Rebecca Ponzio
Radi Simeonova
SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, OEDC
Rebecca.Ponzio@commerce.wa.gov
Radi.Simeonova@commerce.wa.gov
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