WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe has introduced legislation to improve small-business participation in international trade, placing an advocate for small business within the World Trade Organization.

Snowe, a member of the Senate Committee on Small Business, said her legislation would help small businesses carve out a niche in international trade and provide a greater focus at the WTO to address small-business concerns. Snowe, sponsor of the Small Business Enhancement Act that would create a new assistant U.S. trade representative for small business, said this legislation “takes the concept one step further.”

“My bill will require the U.S. trade representative to pursue the establishment of a small business advocate at the WTO in order to safeguard the interests of small firms and represent those interests in trade negotiations and disputes,” Snowe said.

Snowe said less than 1 percent of U.S. small businesses are engaged in international trade-related activities – offering a substantial potential for growth in this sector. Nationwide, America’s 13 million to 16 million small businesses account for more than 99 percent of all employers, and employ about 50 percent of the private work force. In Maine, about 97.6 percent of the state’s 36,660 private employers are small businesses, and nearly 71,000 entrepreneurs are self-employed.