Hillary Clinton promised Tuesday to put the force of her State Department behind US businesses, calling for "jobs diplomacy" to help boost exports and jumpstart a still wobbly economy.

With jobs the key issue for November elections, Clinton pledged that she would meet business leaders on every foreign trip and named a former investment banker, Heidi Rediker, to a new position of State Department chief economist.

"I have made 'Jobs Diplomacy' a priority mission at the State Department," the top US diplomat told a conference with corporate executives.

"We had fallen behind some other countries -- some of them our friends and allies -- when it came to using diplomacy to promote economic interests. American companies haven't always seen the federal government as an ally," Clinton said.

"I've directed all our senior diplomats to conduct business outreach and advocacy when they travel overseas," she said. "We will not rest until the US government is the most effective champion of business and trade anywhere."

Clinton's initiative to support businesses comes as the United States also goes on the offensive over other countries' support to corporations. Clinton said that the United States remained committed to free markets.

The United States has accused China of unfairly providing government funding in competitive areas such as renewable energy, failing to protect intellectual property rights and artificially keeping its currency low to boost exports.

"We will not stand by when our competitors don't play by the same rules. This administration has already brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate of our predecessors," Clinton said.

President Barack Obama's administration set an ambitious goal of doubling US exports from 2010 to 2015, hoping that greater trade can provide new impetus to an economy still recovering from the global recession.

"Why, you might ask, is the secretary of state now spending as much time thinking about market swings as missile silos? Well, to put it very plainly, Americans need jobs," Clinton said.

Obama has highlighted success stories from US manufacturing during his recent travels, stopping last week at sites of aviation giant Boeing in Washington state and of padlock maker Master Lock in Wisconsin.

New claims for US unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest level since March 2008, but polls show widespread concern by Americans about the economy.