I work in Washington, in an eleventh floor office several hundred yards from the White House (a corner of its roof is slightly visible through the trees). Insiders call D.C. "the imperial city" these days, only half in jest. Whether you're a fan or foe of big government, when it comes to promoting the interests of world trade all roads pass through here.

So it was with particular interest that I recently attended a program put on by the National Industrial Transportation League, the venerable association of shippers and transporters, on "The Impact of Free Trade on Logistics." The presenters were heavyweights-folks like Procter & Gamble's Director of National Government Relations and the Director of Small Business Affairs in the Office of the United States Trade Representative-and their collective message, while no surprise to the readers of World Trade, seemed to catch much of the audience by surprise.

Speaker after speaker harkened back to the same theme, namely that companies still adhering to antiquated lines of command that separate logistics from manufacturing and purchasing and sales will not prosper in the new global economy. "For all the talk about supply chain," warned Michael Berzon, president of Mar-Log, Inc. and formerly an international marketing executive at the DuPont Company, "its potential is still badly understood and barely implemented."

What don't companies understand? "That trade itself is part of the supply chain," says Berzon. That's important enough to repeat: trade itself is part of the supply chain! More importantly, the kind of integrated expertise trade requires-finance, shipping, tarrif and duty, security compliance, direct foreign investment, governmental relations-mandates breaching the traditional organizational silos that typically prevent one department from talking to another until after there's a problem. "Auto manufacturers and retail get it," says Berzon, "but not many other industries do."

To those executives in denial, believing they can continue to operate as they did before globalism, the latest trade data contained a stark reminder of how fast things are changing. The magnitude of the monthly trade gap, $48 billion, is a number too vast to grasp but consider this: in April, 30 cents of every dollar spent on non-oil goods went to imports (a new record). Besides helping contain inflation, the global economy (in the words of BusinessWeek) "is a critical force pushing businesses to become more productive and to find cheaper places to produce goods and services."

If they are to become more productive, companies need to be able to profit from the ever more critical role trade plays in the supply chain. To that end, a bold proposal was voiced at the NITL proceedings. Instead of treating trade as an organizational step child, companies should empower a dedicated Trade Officer with lines of authority that cut through the appropriate silos. We never thought of that before, a company Trade Officer, but, upon reflection, we second the nomination. That's a perfect title for the kind of enlightened, progressive corporate leaders for whom we're producing World Trade.