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Trade Finance Guide
The Trade Finance Guide: A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters is the place to discover how to finance new export sales. You’ll learn about the terminology, trade financing practices, and government assistance. 
Read the Trade Finance Guide

The Trade Finance Guide: A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters 

Is your business looking to make that first export sale or expand into more markets, but needs clarity on financing options and methods? Did you know that having open account terms may help win customers in competitive markets? Is insisting on cash-in-advance always a good idea? What are the advantages of exporting on consignment? What should you know about export working capital financing or export credit insurance? Get answers to these questions and a wealth of other information in a trusted resource: The Trade Finance Guide: A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters.  
 
While numerous U.S. businesses continue to take advantage of export opportunities, many other businesses are hesitant to export or expand into new markets. Often, this is due to risks such as non-payment or delayed payment by foreign buyers, political and commercial risks, and other reasons. The result is missed opportunities. Is your business one of them?   
  
The easy-to-understand Trade Finance Guide provides practical, how-to advice in a simplified format to help achieve the goal of getting paid—especially on time—and effectively managing risks associated with doing business internationally.

Trade Finance Guide    
This edition spotlights commercial trade finance instruments as well as U.S. government export financing resources available through the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank), U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). And there’s plenty more as outlined in the 17 chapters below:   

  • Introduction
  • Access to Capital for Startups in Global Markets
  • Methods of Payment in International Trade 
  • Cash-in-Advance 
  • Letters of Credit 
  • Documentary Collections 
  • Open Account
  • Consignment
  • Export Working Capital Financing and Government Guarantees
  • Export Credit Insurance 
  • Export Factoring 
  • Forfaiting
  • SBA Export Finance Programs
  • EXIM Export Finance Programs
  • USDA Export Finance Programs
  • Foreign Exchange Risk Management
  • Emerging Trends: The Digitalization of Trade Finance

Download the Trade Finance Guide  

Trade Finance Guide (PDF)

For more information, email the project manager and author of the Guide, Yuki Fujiyama at yuki.fujiyama@trade.gov, in the  Office of Finance & Insurance Industries  at the International Trade Administration of the  U.S. Department of Commerce.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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