Carlos Gutierrez, Nominee for Commerce Secretary

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2004-12-9

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

President Bush says his choice for the next secretary of
commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, understands business from bottom to top.
Until his nomination, Mister Gutierrez was chief of the food company
Kellogg. But, as the president noted, Mister Gutierrez took his
first job there as a truck driver in Mexico City.

Carlos Gutierrez is fifty-one years old. He was born in Cuba. He
lived there until he was six. His parents exported pineapples from
the island. However, the family members fled the communist takeover
led by Fidel Castro. They came to the United States in nineteen
sixty, but later moved to Mexico.

That is where Mister Gutierrez started at Kellogg in nineteen
seventy-five. He quickly rose to supervisory positions in the Latin
American, Canadian, United States and Asian-Pacific divisions. In
nineteen ninety-eight, he became president of the company. The next
year he became chief executive officer.

Mister Gutierrez is seen as a supporter of open trade. Under his
leadership, Kellogg asked Congress to open United States markets to
lower-priced foreign sugar. That has not happened. A Kellogg
official called the current situation "the worst form of
protectionism."

Kellogg is a major seller of processed food products. It is the
world's largest maker of breakfast cereals.

Mister Gutierrez won praise as head of Kellogg. Sales and profits
increased. The price of Kellogg stock rose nearly one hundred
percent.

Mister Gutierrez expanded production in Mexico and closed the
Kellogg factory in Battle Creek, Michigan. That is where the company
started. The move saved money. But Michigan lost more than five
hundred jobs. The company still has its headquarters in Battle
Creek. Kellogg announced that James Jenness will be its next
chairman and chief executive officer.

Carlos Gutierrez must be confirmed by the Senate to replace
Donald Evans, who resigned.

Congress created the Department of Commerce in nineteen-oh-three.
The budget this year is more than six thousand million dollars.

The Commerce Department supervises trade and intellectual
property rights in the United States. And it helps American
businesses compete in world markets. The department also includes
the Census Bureau and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario
Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen.


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