NEW YORK: The shutdown of the Export-Import Bank of the United States may prove to be temporary, the result of a nasty political fight in Washington, but it has American plastics companies who rely on it for international sales nervously watching and waiting.“It is important to us and it has worked well for us in the past,” said Russ LaBelle, president of equipment maker Wilmington Machinery Inc.
“Frankly I think it would be a mistake not to continue it.”The Wilmington, N.C.,-based maker of injection and blow molding equipment uses Ex-Im financing for about one-third of its exports, often to developing countries.With exports making up about half its total sales, it’s an important tool for the company, particularly against European competitors who can receive similar support from their governments, LaBelle said.
But the 80-year-old bank, which is a U.S. government agency that guarantees loans from private banks to finance exports from American companies, shut its doors June 30 after conservative Republicans in Congress blocked its re authorization.
Opponents of the bank call it corporate welfare, with groups including Americans for Tax Reform challenging the notion that it’s crucial to exports. They cite an analysis of U.S. government data by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., which showed that only 1.9 percent of U.S. exports by value were financed with the bank
