With the share of foreign investment coming into the US falling down dramatically, officials and business leaders are looking at ways to attract investments from India, China, Brazil and other emerging economies.
Hosting a discussion of the President's Jobs Council here on Friday secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the body will make recommendations to President Barack Obama on ways to make the US more attractive to foreign companies. Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of the General Electric Company who heads the jobs council, underlined the US concerns before the gathering of top US executives and those from US affiliates of firms based in other countries.
"Our direct investment from places like China, India, Brazil, the people that really have a hot hand today, are minuscule, almost non-existent," Immelt said. Antonio Perez, chairman and chief executive officer of the Eastman Kodak Company and a member of the council, also underlined the "troubling" trend in the US declining share of global investments.
"Even more troubling than that is the fact that out of the 12 per cent, only two and a half per cent comes from the combination of Brazil, India and China," he said, adding that "does not bode well for the future of this country." Obama's Job Council met as new report out Friday sponsored by the Organization for International Investment revealed that investment to US fell to 18 percent of world flows in 2009, down from 41 percent in 1999. Noting that the United States has a total of $2.3 trillion in foreign direct investment, acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said: "In the face of increased competition, we need to step up our game." Clinton said: "We need to show not only that we are open for business, but to use every tool in our tool box to attract it."