Commercial Diplomacy and the National Interest

This short and lively book lays out the why and the how of promoting US business abroad. America's place in the world depends more than is usually acknowledged on the vigor and global reach of American business. The United States is the world's leading exporter, the world's leading importer, and the world's primary source and destination of funds for foreign investment. Our position as the best place in the world to do business-the most reliable in which to buy, the most lucrative in which to sell, and the safest and surest in which to invest or to raise capital-is a cause, not an effect, of American global leadership. Protecting and expanding the US role as the world's supplier and customer of choice for goods, services, ideas, capital and entrepreneurial energy should be a foreign policy objective second only to securing the homeland. Such goals need day-to-day attention. Case histories dealing with market access, investor rights, protection of intellectual property, corrupt practices, contract sanctity, sanctions, security and other trade and investment issues show how diplomacy works with business to achieve commercial objectives that advance national interests. These stories, based largely on interviews with the business leaders and diplomats who took part in the events they describe, illuminate the best practices that lead to success and point up the lessons learned from failures. Practitioners in business and government, and those interested in how the two relate to each other in international affairs, will benefit from this brisk, persuasive analysis.