Export-Import Bank

President Trump has directed federal agencies to fast-track critical minerals production projects in the U.S. and identify financing, including through the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, to facilitate such projects, reduce reliance on Chinese minerals imports and shore up domestic supply chains. The March 20 executive order is largely aimed at accelerating various regulatory processes and opening up federal land for critical minerals production, but it also invokes the Defense Production Act to boost domestic...

The U.S. Export-Import Bank is opening the door for resumed work on a liquefied natural gas pipeline in Mozambique that Ex-Im first financed through a $4.7 billion loan in 2019, after the developer abandoned it in 2021 following Islamic State attacks in the area -- underlining the Trump administration’s focus on expanding U.S. fossil fuel companies’ exports and overseas development. According to a March 19 statement , the bank’s board of directors -- including two acting officials newly appointed by...

The Biden-Harris administration has announced a new initiative to provide up to $900 million for next-generation domestic nuclear energy projects, funding that industry representatives say could help ease barriers to exporting civil nuclear technology abroad. These sources, however, tell Inside U.S. Trade more government support and financing tools will be needed to help U.S. exporters compete with foreign state-owned companies in international markets. The Energy Department last week opened an application process for up to $900 million in funding...

The Export-Import Bank’s board of directors last week adopted a resolution reaffirming support for the bank’s financing of critical mineral and rare earth transactions and clarifying how projects are deemed eligible for financing under the bank’s China program amid a push from lawmakers for greater support for critical mineral projects. At its Sept. 26 meeting, the board approved a “Non-Binding Resolution in Support of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths Financings,” according to an Ex-Im statement published on Wednesday. The resolution...

The U.S. Export-Import Bank’s culture of “micromanagement,” strained relationships between employees and leadership, lack of holistic workforce planning and understaffed Office of Human Capital are hampering the bank’s ability to meet its strategic goals, the bank’s inspector general say in a new report that has led the agency to commit to update its practices. “EXIM’s current workplace culture is generally perceived as one of micromanagement in which agency leadership lacks trust in employees, and one where employees’ needs are not...

A majority of U.S. Export-Import Bank customers see the bank as less competitive than other export credit agencies, citing stringent content and shipping requirements and long processing times, according to a new report to Congress. In its annual report on the bank’s competitiveness issued on Monday, Ex-Im published the results of a survey of exporters and lenders that received transaction approvals in 2023. Around 60 percent of the 70 medium and long-term customers surveyed said the bank was “far” or...

The chair of the U.S. Export-Import Bank on Thursday pushed lawmakers to boost the bank’s competitiveness by loosening lending restrictions to better counter China and moving to reauthorize the bank well ahead of its charter’s expiry, in 2026. “We do want to do more and we can do more,” Ex-Im Chair and President Reta Jo Lewis told the House Financial Services national security, illicit finance and international financial institutions subcommittee during a June 27 hearing on the bank’s role amid...

China’s rapid buildout of its domestic nuclear energy capabilities is producing scale and “learning-by-doing” effects that will benefit its exporters, according to a report published on Monday that echoes concerns expressed by producers in the U.S. who fear foreign competitors could eclipse them in international markets. “China appears likely to use this established domestic capacity as a foundation for competitive reactor exports,” states a June 17 report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology and public policy think...

Curbs on U.S. Export-Import Bank financing activities designed to protect taxpayers from loan defaults are overly restrictive, advisers and stakeholders said last week, pushing for more flexibility in Ex-Im’s lending, particularly in the nuclear sector. Ex-Im is statutorily required to keep its loan default rate below 2 percent. The bank reports its default rate to Congress quarterly; if the default rate hits or exceeds 2 percent in a given quarter, its loan exposure is immediately frozen and it cannot continue...