“The other thing that’s interesting about trade, is people think about trade and they think, well, trade is only good for big companies, only the multinational companies benefit from trade. I don’t believe that’s true. I know that since the role of governments to create an environment in which the entrepreneur can flourish and realize his or her dreams, that trade opens up opportunities for the entrepreneur. And here’s one example.

Excel Holdings is a company based in Leesburg, Virginia. We’ve got the owner here, which I’m about to name him here pretty quick. And I can see his wife and two — and son and daughter, I might add. Their job — let me just say, last year, they signed a $35 million contract with a Mexican distributor. Excel’s product serves an important purpose, as it can produce up to 5,000 gallons of purified drinking water each day.

Today, Excel maintains distributors in 13 countries. The owner, a fellow who came to the United States from Egypt, Hisham Fawzi, he’s with us. Hisham, thank you for coming. Here’s a guy who had a dream, he wanted to build and own his own company. That’s an important part of the American experience, owning your own business, coming up with a good idea and working hard to see to it that the good idea works.

His idea, obviously, included markets around the world. In order for his business to succeed, he needed trade in more markets. There are thousands of entrepreneurs in America who benefit from trade. Trade is not just good for mega-corporate America. Trade is very good for farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs, like our guest here today. I want to thank you for coming and thank you for working hard to realize the American Dream. And good luck in your business. (Applause.)”