The Export–Import Bank of the United States (abbreviated as EXIM or known as the Bank) is the official export credit agency (ECA) of the United States federal government. Operating as a wholly owned federal government corporation, the Bank "assists in financing and facilitating U.S. exports of goods and services". EXIM intervenes when private sector lenders are unable or unwilling to provide financing. Its current chairman and president, Reta Jo Lewis, was confirmed by the Senate on February 9, 2022.Founded in 1934, the Export-Import Bank was established by an executive order organized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt under the name Export-Import Bank of Washington. The stated goal was "to aid in financing and to facilitate exports and imports and the exchange of commodities between the United States and other Nations or the agencies or nationals thereof." The Bank's first transaction was a $3.8 million loan to Cuba in 1935 for the purchase of U.S. silver ingots. In 1945, it was made an independent agency in the Executive Branch by Congress. It was last chartered for a three-year term in 2012 and in September 2014 was extended through June 30, 2015. Congressional authorization for the bank lapsed as of July 1, 2015. As a result, the bank could not engage in new business, but it continued to manage its existing loan portfolio. Five months later, after the successful employment of the rarely used discharge petition procedure in the House of Representatives, Congress reauthorized the bank until September 2019 via the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act signed into law on December 4, 2015, by President Barack Obama. In December of 2019, President Donald Trump signed the Export-Import Bank Extension into law as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (P.L. 116-94) which authorized the bank until December 31st, 2026.
Over the years, the Export-Import Bank helped finance several historic projects including the Pan-American Highway, the Burma Road, and post-WWII reconstruction.
1934Feb, 2
The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
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Events on 1934
- 23May
Bonnie and Clyde
Infamous American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. - 2Aug
Adolf Hitler
Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg. - 26Sep
RMS Queen Mary
Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched. - 9Oct
Alexander I of Yugoslavia
Regicide at Marseille: The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France. - 6Nov
Tennessee Valley Authority
Memphis, Tennessee becomes the first major city to join the Tennessee Valley Authority.