Obama touts US exports as key to jobs on Boeing visit

President Barack Obama vowed Friday to boost US exports to expand job creation on a visit to a facility of aviation giant Boeing, which he hailed as an example of revitalized industry. At the end of a three-day tour focused on US industry and to raise funds for his November reelection bid, Obama promised not to "stand by when our competitors don't play by the rules," and benefit from what he called "unfair" trade practices. "I will go anywhere in the world to open up new markets for American products," the US leader vowed. In a cavernous Boeing hanger, Obama praised the company's new Dreamliner aircraft, which made its first commercial flight in October and is now getting a string of orders from around the world after years of delays that cost the firm billions of dollars in lost or canceled orders. Obama, criticized this week by Republican president candidates Mitt Romney for supposed weakness dealing with Beijing, meanwhile insisted his administration was committed to "investigating unfair trade practices" in rival manufacturing bases in China, and in Europe, to ensure a better environment for US industry. He also called on Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, announcing the bank would be launching a new program to aid smaller businesses with exports. The effort, he said, would "give American companies a fair shot by matching the unfair export financing that their competitors receive from other countries." After the economy's upswing in January thanks to a surge in job creation, with the unemployment rate falling for the fifth straight month to 8.3 percent, Obama said companies like Boeing was an example for a strengthening environment for manufacturers. "Last year orders of commercial aircraft rose by more than 50 percent. And to meet that demand, Boeing hired 13,000 workers all across America," the US leader said, saying it was "a great example of what American manufacturing can do." Obama was to return to the US capital later Friday night after the three-day tour that took him to a factory in Wisconsin, and fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco to build his campaign warchest.