News

WASHINGTON – Export-Import Bank of the United States’ (EXIM) President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis toured two Ohio manufacturing facilities alongside Senator Sherrod Brown yesterday, touting EXIM’s new Make More in America Initiative. Chair Lewis and Sen. Brown also met with representatives of Cleveland’s Ukrainian Museum Archives to discuss EXIM’s support for Ukraine. Additionally, Chair Lewis met with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to discuss EXIM’s support for small businesses that export.

"I was happy to be in Ohio with Senator Brown visiting manufacturing businesses and talking about EXIM’s new Make More in America Initiative that will help support American jobs," said EXIM President and Chair Reta Jo Lewis. "The Make More in America Initiative will help spur manufacturing in critical sectors to strengthen the resiliency of our supply chains. One of our goals at EXIM is to extend our outreach to local exporters and small businesses to facilitate American exports, support American jobs and enhance global competitiveness.”

“For decades Ohio has lived with the consequences of bad trade and tax policy that encouraged corporations to send production overseas, in search of ever-lower wages,” said Senator Sherrod Brown. “EXIM is critical to bringing those supply chains back home and supporting Ohio manufacturers that want to expand production and exports. EXIM’s job is to support American businesses in the face of competition – often unfair competition – from countries like China.”

Chair Lewis’ and Sen. Brown’s first visit yesterday was with members of the Ukrainian community at the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. Chair Lewis reaffirmed EXIM’s support for Ukraine amid the current Russian aggression and underscored EXIM’s commitment to the partnership with Ukraine that was forged in an August 2021 memorandum of understanding between the two countries.

Later in the morning, Chair Lewis participated in a roundtable discussion with minority and community business development organizations at NeoGraf Solutions, LLC, a Lakewood, OH manufacturing company that specializes in the development of graphite sheets. During the meeting, Chair Lewis reemphasized EXIM’s commitment to helping local manufacturers support American jobs and further facilitate exports. Following the roundtable, Chair Lewis and Sen. Brown toured NeoGraf’s facility, which has had approximately $63 million in EXIM-supported exports since 2019.

Chair Lewis and Sen. Brown then toured Crown Battery’s Freemont, OH facility. Crown Battery is a small business that has had EXIM-supported financing since 2008, exporting to nine markets. Their plant uses only renewable energy and was the first U.S facility to be recognized as a Green Power Partner. During the tour, Chair Lewis met with several local elected officials, including Fremont Mayor Danny Sanchez, and discussed how EXIM can continue to support small businesses and increase America’s export competitiveness.

Finally, Chair Lewis met with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to talk about EXIM’s new Make More in America Initiative, and how businesses can utilize EXIM’s financing capabilities to support American companies that export.

ABOUT EXIM:

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is the nation’s official export credit agency with the mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating U.S. exports. To advance American competitiveness and assist U.S. businesses as they compete for global sales, EXIM offers financing including export credit insurance, working capital guarantees, loan guarantees, and direct loans. As an independent federal agency, EXIM contributes to U.S. economic growth by supporting tens of thousands of jobs in exporting businesses and their supply chains across the United States. Since 1992, EXIM has generated more than $9 billion for the U.S. Treasury for repayment of U.S. debt. Learn more at www.exim.gov.