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NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co. said Thursday that it may create 1,000 jobs in the United Kingdom after Congress did not renew a government program that allows foreign companies to borrow money to buy U.S. products.
Foreign companies use the U.S. Export-Import Bank to buy expensive U.S. products when bank loans are not available. It stopped new business activities on July 1, so GE says it is looking to foreign versions of the agency for funding for its customers. That typically requires creating jobs in the countries of those agencies.
The industrial company said it signed an agreement with an export credit agency in the U.K., which agreed to provide funding for potential orders from other countries. If GE wins the orders, it will create up to 1,000 new jobs in the U.K.
"In today's competitive environment, countries that have a functional export credit agency will attract investment," said GE CEO Jeff Immelt in a statement.
The Hartford, Connecticut, company said last week that it may move up to 500 U.S. jobs to France, Hungary and China.
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