Executive Order 13169: Assistance to Small Business Exporters and Dislocated Workers
President: Bill Clinton
Coordinated help for small exporters and faster outreach to workers displaced by import competition.
Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13169 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13169 is completed or expired. See Federal Register record.
What does Executive Order 13169 do?
EO 13169 ordered Commerce, Labor, SBA, USTR and the Export-Import Bank to form a task force promoting small-business exports, particularly opportunities connected with China, sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. It also directed Labor to improve early warning, outreach and access to dislocated-worker and Trade Adjustment Assistance services. The immediate trade transition and reporting assignments are historical; current export assistance and workforce programs operate under later statutes and agency structures.
Later evidence reviewed September 23, 2026: Congress ended new Trade Adjustment Assistance worker petitions after the statutory program lapsed. Labor Department — Trade Adjustment Assistance. The later lapse concerns statutory worker petition eligibility; it does not by itself revoke the 2001 interagency order.
Before and after
Before the order
Export-promotion and worker-adjustment programs existed but lacked this targeted interagency direction for new trade opportunities and dislocation outreach.
After the order
Agencies coordinated small-export assistance and Labor expanded proactive notice and service information.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| Commerce, Labor, SBA, USTR and EXIM | Create a small-business export task force | Historical |
| Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee | Report annually on task-force functions | Historical reporting |
| Labor Department | Improve layoff intelligence, outreach and adjustment assistance | Continues under later programs |
What happened next
EO 13169 set the coordination and outreach directions.
Signed text, official disposition and the cited later implementation records for EO 13169 rechecked.
Legal and source detail
How it works legally
Eligibility for grants, loans and worker benefits arises under program statutes and regulations, not the order itself. EO 13169 expressly created no privately enforceable right.
Sources by type
If a source is unavailable, first check the cited publisher or another official repository. The cited publisher remains the authority.
Primary and official sources
Orders, laws, court records and official implementation material.
- GovInfo — EO 13169 (opens in a new tab) Order text
- SBA — export products (opens in a new tab) Official record
- Trade.gov — export solutions (opens in a new tab) Official record
- National Archives — 2000 disposition table (opens in a new tab) Official record
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 23, 2026. How we research →