State Trade Expansion Program Awards Funding to 49 Small Businesses

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced on Tuesday $20 million in total grants to 49 state and territory international trade agencies under the 2023 State Trade Expansion Program. State government entities and nonprofit organizations at the local level manage each of the awardees, which were chosen via a competitive application process.

According to agency chief Isabella Casillas Guzman, the Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to giving entrepreneurs a level playing field and ensuring that small U.S. businesses “can promote their products and services to over 95 percent of the world’s consumers,” SBA said.

The STEP program, which was created under The Small Business Jobs Act, has already awarded $235.5 million in grants since it was formed in 2010, SBA noted. The program has directly supported the expansion and export initiatives of more than 13,000 small businesses.

SBA also said that every $1 invested in STEP last year yielded $43 in export sales, demonstrating an improvement in return on investment.

The STEP awards help offset the costs of entrepreneurs’ export-related activities, such as joining foreign trade missions and trade fairs and launching international marketing campaigns.