Who Are the Biggest Foreign Buyers Benefiting from Export-Import Bank Loans?
Melissa Quinn /
Supporters of the Export-Import Bank often argue the agency supports small businesses and allows such firms to compete in the global market. However, a new analysis of the bank’s transactions found those benefiting the most on the buyer side are large foreign corporations.
Veronique de Rugy, senior fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, and Diane Katz, research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, released a joint analysis this week exploring Ex-Im’s top foreign buyers.
“[T]he subsidies lavished on these foreign firms actually undercut American companies and workers that must compete without such government assistance,” de Rugy and Katz wrote in their analysis.
Ex-Im provides taxpayer-backed loans and loan guarantees to foreign countries and companies for the purchase of U.S. products. The bank’s charter expires June 30, and policy makers are debating whether to reauthorize the agency or allow it to end.
>>> The Export-Import Bank’s Top Foreign Buyers
(Chart: Kesley Harris)
(Chart: Kelsey Harris)