Czech Republic - Your Trade Partner (PDF, 5 MB)

"When progress took a wrong turn in Central and Eastern Europe in 1948, commerce and economic relations between the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) and America suffered. The ties between the Czechs and Americans, which took many years to be patiently and meticulously built, were torn. It took more than 40 years for the tide to turn again. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the Czech Republic faced two enormous economic tasks: the re-establishment of privatization and the building of a market economy. We thank the United States and the thousands of Americans who found new friends in the heart of Europe and who have helped us in the last 28 years to achieve our goals.

In the beginning, the Czech companies which came onto the American market were timid and cautious. They, however, gradually found their place. Today, companies such as Linet, Plzeňský Prazdroj, Toscan, PBS Group, Preciosa, and Javlin are fixtures here, creating jobs and paying taxes.

In turn, there are hundreds of large and small American companies in the Czech Republic, utilizing the Czech highly educated and creative manufacturing and tech savvy workforce. It is known that Czechs have had genius innovations many times throughout history. Ott o Wichterle invented contact lenses. Antonín Holý discovered an anti-virus for curing AIDS. Hence, many companies, such as GE Aviation, Honeywell, Eaton, and Solarwinds, are now further developing their products in the Czech Republic. Czech and American experts are closely collaborating in nuclear engineering, aviation, nanotechnology and IT. Moreover, scientists and researchers, in particular mathematicians and bio medics, are also more often working together.

With each year, the United States becomes a more significant trading partner for the Czech Republic. In 2015, the Czech Republic for the first time exported more goods to the US than to Russia. In other words, the United States is the Czech Republic’s most important trading partner outside of Europe. The significance of this development took a little while to sink in before we realized that our patience and hard work since the revolution paid off. We are truly proud of our strong ties to America and we hope that our American friends share in our exhilaration.

Czech and American companies seeking mutual trade and investments are welcome to contact the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC, General Consuls in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, CzechTrade in Chicago, and the offices of CzechInvest on the East and West coast in the United States. The twenty-first century belongs to the bold and there are luckily many such Czech and American entrepreneurs."

 

Zdeněk Beránek

Deputy Chief of Mission

Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C.