TRADE & INVESTMENT

US-Belgian Trade
 

Facts & Figures
Contacts

The trade relationship between Belgium and the United States is of prime importance for both countries, and it is by no means a one way street.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, bilateral U.S.-Belgian trade was worth $ 41 billion in 2010. This makes Belgium a larger trading partner for the U.S. than India, Australia, Russia, or Spain. Container ships, carrying over 4,000 containers a day, make Antwerp the leading port in the world for transport of goods to and from the United States. Belgium is also one of the trading partners with which the U.S. has the largest bilateral surplus, in real terms.

The U.S. is the number one trading partner for Belgium outside the EU, and the 5th trading partner overall. It is also the 5th export market for Belgium (figure 1 and 2).

Figure 1 (click on graph for a large view)

Figure 2 (click on graph for a large view)

Main Belgian exports to the U.S. include chemical products, machines and equipment, precious stones and metals, transport equipment, and mineral products (figure 3). The U.S. has a particular strong position for trade in services. According to the Belgian Agency for Foreign Trade, almost 3,000 Belgian companies currently export to the U.S. market.

Figure 3 (Click on graph for large view)

Figure 4 (Click on graph for large view)

The history of bilateral exchanges is almost four centuries old, dating back to Pierre Minuit’s arrival in Manhattan in 1625, and his purchasing the island the next year. Later on, from the 1840’s onward, thousands of Belgians settled in the Midwest and founded new communities, which they often named after their Belgian hometowns like Antwerp, Ohio and Namur, Wisconsin. These new Americans also brought with them their skills and talents, and were for instance responsible for building the glass industry in the U.S.

The Belgian contribution to the U.S. economy also includes the invention by Solvay brothers Ernest and Alfred of a new process for producing sodium carbonate, which revolutionized how Americans with little access to yeast on the frontier made their bread. Sodium carbonate imported into the U.S. was turned into sodium bicarbonate, baking soda. Even more than baking soda, plastic is ubiquitous today in every American home, and can be traced back to a Belgian inventor. It is indeed in the United States that Leo Bakeland developed the first synthetic polymer Bakelite in 1907. More recently, Belgian researchers received over the past months a series of prestigious American scientific awards, like the Ernesto Orlando Lawrence Award of the U.S. Department of Energy, the NIH Pioneer Award, and the Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research. Scientific ties between the U.S. and Belgium are enhanced by the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF), the leading independent philanthropy in the support of exchanging university students, scientists and scholars between the United States and Belgium.

Similarly, Belgian entrepreneurs, business executives and scientists continue to be very active on the U.S. market. For example, as of 2010, Belgian nationals held senior management positions at the highest levels with companies like Xerox, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing, Nike, Cargill and Procter & Gamble. From Bekaert to Solvay and InBev to Umicore, to name just a few, major Belgian corporations have also heavily invested in the U.S., where their goods and services have now often become part of the daily family or business environment in the United States. Beyond beer and chocolates, some of the less directly identifiable products from Belgium playing a prominent role in the U.S. are:

1. Sports playing field surfaces for NFL teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Denver Broncos, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers
2. A free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website, used by the White House
3. Non-polluting buses on fuel cells, providing public transportation buses for many US metropolitan areas transit systems, including Washington, DC and San Francisco
4. A variety of drugs, such as epilepsy, allergy and HIV medications
5. Miniaturized transmitters/receivers for patient motion tracking during radiotherapy
6. The cargo inspection system designed to automatically detect nuclear threats in the U.S.
7. The anti-anthrax processing method used for US mail
8. Audiovisual screens for American corporate jets, large display walls for the Command Centers of the US Coast Guard, large scoring boards and entertainment screens during US basketball games, and…
9. ”House of Anubis”, the popular series on the Nickelodeon Channel.

Economic links between the two countries are being forged at the state level as well. To name but a couple of recent examples, in 2010, the California High-Speed Rail Authority signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Belgium to continue sharing high-speed rail planning and development information. And BioNJ, New Jersey’s biotech industry organization, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with FlandersBio, the regional umbrella organization for the life sciences and biotechnology sector in Flanders, to solidify international ties between the clusters.

Every year, Belgium is ranked among the World’s most open economies in the "Globalization Index", and it is part of numerous multilateral and bilateral trade and investment agreements, whether directly or through the European Union, including the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). In the field of procurement, it also offers specific business opportunities for U.S. companies servicing the EU. Most tenders from European public contracting authorities for public supplies, whose value is above the agreed thresholds, are open to U.S.-based companies by virtue of the GPA. The Agreement allows U.S. firms to bid on all supplies and services, and some construction works contracts, above thresholds contracted by EU central public contracting authorities.

Belgium is also an excellent location to access NATO’s Security and Investment Program through NATO’s acquisition agencies. Both agencies procure goods and services through preferred suppliers and International Competitive Bidding (ICB) for larger projects. The investments cover communications and information systems, radar, military headquarters, airfields, fuel pipelines and storage, harbors, and navigational aids. It also includes Peace Support Operations such as SFOR and KFOR including communications, information systems, local headquarters facilities, power systems, and repairs to airfields, rail, and roads.

Contacts

Agency for Foreign Trade
Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce
Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT)Brussels-Capital Region
Wallonia Export & Investment Agency (AWEX)
Economic Section Embassy
Foreign Trade Advisors

Federal Agency for Foreign Trade – data about Belgian foreign trade, Belgian exporters and trade sectors (www.abh-ace.org)

Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce in the United States (www.belcham.org)

American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (www.amcham.be)

Flanders Investment and Trade (FIT) (www.investinflanders.com)

Trade Promotion-Region of Wallonia- Agence Wallonne à l’Exportation (AWEX)
www.wallonia-export.be

Trade Promotion- Brussels Region:
Economic and Commercial Office of the Brussels Capital Region in the US (www.brussels-usa.com)
Brussels Export (www.brussels-export.irisnet.be)

Embassy of Belgium, Economic Section

Mr. Bart Deelen
Bussiness Development Manager
Tel: (202) 625-5810
Fax: (202) 625-7567
E-Mail: bart.deelen@diplobel.fed.be

Foreign Trade Advisors

Belgium has an extensive network of Foreign Trade Advisers in the US. Based on their experience, Foreign Trade Advisers give advice to public, private, federal and regional entities as well as to exporters from Belgium and Luxembourg on foreign trade promotion.

Charles-André Bouwers
Vice President and Director
THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP
51 John F. Kennedy Parkway
Short Hills, New Jersey 07078
Phone: (973) 218-8317
Fax: (973) 218-8301
E-mail: brouwers.charles-andre@bcg.com

Mr. Yvan De Munck
Executive Vice President KBC Financial Products USA Inc.
140 East 45th Street
2 Grand Central Tower, 42nd Floor
New York, NY 10017
Tel Direct 212 845 2219
Fax Direct 212 895 9219
E-mail yvan.demunck@kbcfp.com

Mr. Christian Bartley
Director of International Operations
Faleiro, LLC
Milwaukee, WI
E-mail: Belg.trade@faleiro.com

Mr. Willem Dericks
Vice President, Berry Group
Atlanta, GA.
E-mail: wimd@aol.com

Mr. Geert Cauwenbergh
Chairman & CEO
Barrier Therapeutics Inc., New Jersey
E-mail: gcauwenbergh@barriertherapeutics.com

Mr. Edouard Dekkers
Parc Place, 380 Rector Place (Suite 5P)
New York, NY 10280-1444
Tel.: (212) 945-3782
Fax: (212) 945-7240
E-mail: isoeddy@aol.com

Mr. Willy Goderis
7507 North Oketo Avenue
Chicago, IL 60631
(847) 722-5142
E-mail: willygoderis@hotmail.com

Mr. Georges Hoffmann
191 Peachtree Street
NE-16th Floor
Atlanta, GA 30303
Tel.: (404) 572-6784
Fax.: (404) 572-6999
E-mail: gahoffmann1@aol.com

Mr. Anton Mertens
Promenade II, Suite 3100
1230 Peachtree Street, NE
Atlanta, GA 30309-3592
Tel.: (404) 815-3733
Fax.:(404) 685-7033
E-mail: afmertens@sgrlaw.com

Mr. Thomas Paelinck
Executive Vice President
Caribbean Feeder Services Ltd.
4765 SW 148 Ave
Davie, FL 33330 USA
Tel: (+) 1-(954) 616 8872
Cell: (+) 1-(954) 618 3397
Email: Tom@caribbeanfeeder.com
Web site: www.caribbeanfeeder.com

Mr. Philippe Tytgat
Vice President
Ambassador Fine Foods
16625 Saticoy Street
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Tel: (+) 1- 818/787.20.00
Fax (+) 1- 818/778.64.64
Email: Ptytgat@ambassadorfoods.com

Mr. Christian Van Pelt
7 Hilltop Road
Mendham, New Jersey 07945
Tel: (973) 543-9100 (tel)
Fax: (973) 542-9103 (fax)
E-mail: chrisitan@theseuscapitalpartners.com


Mr. Charles Van Rysselberge
PO Box 975
Charleston, SC 29402-0975
Tel.: (843)805-3070
Fax: (843)723-4853
E-mail: charlesvr@charlestonchamber.org

Mr. Eric Vergucht
4 McGuire Lane
Croton-on-Hudson, New York 10520
Tel.: (914) 693-2454
Fax: (914) 693-8124
E-mail: verguchte@aol.com

Mr. Jean-Pierre Wolff
6238 Orcutt Road
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Tel.: (805) 781-0448
Fax: (805) 781-0428
E-mail: jpwolff@earthlink.net

Mr. O. B. E. Terence Murphy
818 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20006
Tel.: (202) 833-9211
Fax.: (202) 293-1877
E-mail: TMurphy@MKTechnology.com

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