AC

The slowing economies of China and other emerging nations are stunting foreign demand for U.S. goods, jeopardizing one of the Obama administration's most ambitious economic initiatives. In his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama set a goal to double U.S. exports in five years — from $1.58 trillion in 2009 to $3.15 trillion by the end of 2014. With the world coming out of recession then, exports rebounded strongly at first — soaring 16.7% in 2010 and nearly 15% last year to $2.1 trillion, putting the U.S. ahead of schedule in meeting its goal. A growing number of economists and trade experts say that performance is unlikely to be matched this year — or next — with much of Europe in a mild recession and two of the world's largest emerging economies, China and India, decelerating from a torrid pace of double-digit annual expansion. The doubling of U.S. exports was "an aspiration when it was disclosed, and now it seems an increasingly difficult objective to meet," says...