Purposes

The purposes of this Act are to— (1) create a cadre of specialists within the Foreign Service of the Department of State, dedicated to commercial diplomacy, and distinct from other career paths of the Foreign Service; (2) align and integrate commercial diplomacy efforts with other foreign policy priorities by removing institutional barriers and expanding the size of the commercial diplomacy enterprise at the Department of State; (3) recognize that Economic Officers in the Foreign Service are already performing the functions of commercial diplomats in two-thirds of all United States diplomatic and consular posts and provide such officers with the necessary training to be successful; (4) fill the void in the United States commercial diplomacy program created by the steady decrease in resources assigned to the Foreign Commercial Service under the Department of Commerce; and (5) ensure that commercial diplomacy efforts of the Department of State are conducted in coordination with the Department of Commerce and other relevant Federal agencies, consistent with their statutory authorities.