Alice Slayton Clark Archives

Business Finalizes Recommendations to G20 Sherpas

Published on March 22, 2017
USCIB President Peter Robinson and IOE President Daniel Funes de Rioja (2ns and 3rd from right, respectively) at the B20 session in Paris
USCIB President Peter Robinson and IOE President Daniel Funes (2nd and 3rd from right, respectively) at the B20 session in Paris

USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson took part in today’s Special B20 Germany-OECD-BIAC meeting at the OECD in Paris, designed to provide coordinated private-sector input to the G20 leaders, in advance of a key G20 sherpas meeting this week in Germany. The main G20 leaders summit is scheduled for July 7-8 in Hamburg, Germany.

“Today’s meetings were important because we finalized key recommendations to the G20 sherpas on trade and investment policy, job-creation and the digitalization of the economy, among other topics,” said Robinson, who serves as co-chair of the B20 Employment and Education Task Force. “We hope the G20 governments will take these recommendations to heart.”

B20 President Jürgen Heraeus stated: “If we want to ensure future-oriented, sustainable economic growth, business has an important role to play. We are ready to do so. This cooperation offers the outstanding opportunity to shape global economic governance. Our global economy is changing rapidly. We are facing a multitude of risks: climate change, political conflicts, terrorism to name just a few. The G20 can serve as an agenda-setter.”

The B20 meeting was co-hosted by Business at OECD (BIAC), and OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria addressed the gathering. “Business at OECD provides continuity and expertise across G20 and B20 presidencies,” said Business at OECD Chairman Phil O’Reilly. “We support the OECD in its vital mission to improve domestic and global economic governance. At a time when trade and investment across borders are subject of much ill-informed debate, OECD evidence on the substantial benefits of open and competitive markets is more important than ever.”

Daniel Funes de Rioja, chairman of the International Organization of Employers, also took part in today’s meetings. Meanwhile, USCIB Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan participated in meetings in London around the conclusion of the G20 finance ministers meeting, which was notable in part for the ministers’ decision not to re-emphasize their shard commitment to resisting trade protectionism.

Following the conclusion finance ministers meeting, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Secretary General John Danilovich issued a statement calling on the G20 governments to commit to shared values of openness and cooperation.

“We continue to face the challenge of global growth being too low and benefiting too few,” said Danilovich. “This is the defining economic test of our times, and we urge all G20 economies to take concerted and urgent action to enable inclusive growth. A retreat into protectionism would be the wrong response to this challenge.”

Danilovich continued: “Trade and globalization are complex processes, but at their heart are some simple truths. Trade means more choice for consumers. It means lower prices, so the money in your pocket goes further. Companies that trade are more competitive, and create more and better-paid jobs. That’s why trade matters if we’re to deliver the increases in prosperity, and reductions in inequality, that G20 finance ministers rightly committed to realize this weekend.”

“The global business community is naturally concerned by any weakening of the G20’s decade-long stance on resisting protectionism. We remain encouraged that discussions on this issue will continue in the coming months at official level. ICC will do all it can to urge G20 leaders to take the strongest possible stance on maintaining open markets at their annual summit in Hamburg in July. Protectionism is no path to progress.”

USCIB Experts Quoted in Journal of Commerce Articles on Trade

Published on March 20, 2017

container_shipUSCIB experts on trade and customs Rob Mulligan, senior vice president of policy and government affairs, and Megan Giblin, customs and trade facilitation director, were recently quoted in a Journal of Commerce article, “Trump administration unlikely to repudiate new WTO pact.” The article explores the state of bilateral and multinational trade agreements, such as the recent entry into force of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

JOC Special Correspondent Alan M Field wrote that despite the current administration’s aversion to multilateral agreements, it isn’t likely to repudiate the TFA. Field also quoted Mulligan’s views on this matter, “I don’t think that the administration has said much directly related to this agreement, but in some ways, I would expect that the provisions of this agreement are consistent with some of the things they have been saying about trying to open up borders and improve opportunities for U.S. business.”

Giblin agreed, stating that “it is important to recognize some of [the TFA’s] core messages. The TFA is critical to doing business, critical for companies. You’re going to get more transparency and predictability. The time-consuming processes at the border are going to be streamlined. You’re going to see goods moving more rapidly across the border. It’s expected to increase exports significantly.”

The full JOC story is available here, log-in required.

Giblin was also quoted extensively in a separate JOC story, “New WTO accord to speed customs clearance, cut costs” that takes a deeper dive into the TFA’s entry into force. Giblin was quoted on several aspects of the TFA, including the TFA’s value in allowing companies to understand quickly what the rules are and be able to export with assurance, “If everybody is providing the same level of transparency and ability [needed] to appeal decisions, then everyone will know how to operate,” she said. “That will lead to increased exports of products. And that will likely give a boost to the US economy and result in more jobs.”

The JOC story on TFA also quotes International Chamber of Commerce Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.

 

USCIB and AFL-CIO Join Forces to Support Key Programs on Labor and Human Rights

Published on March 13, 2017

CapitolUSCIB and the AFL-CIO recently joined forces in a letter co-signed by USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson and ALF-CIO President Richard Trumka to the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies and its Senate counterpart to support the Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) and the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL). Robinson and Trumka serve together as members of the President’s Committee on the International Labor Organization.

Separately, USCIB submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Appropriations to continue funding ILAB’s and DRL’s grants and programs. “These department bureaus are essential for ensuring compliance with our current trade law and a level playing field for businesses operating both in the U.S. and globally. The programs and grants of ILAB and DRL are critical to both employers and workers, providing essential support to efforts of U.S. companies and worker organizations to promote worker rights abroad, uphold labor commitments in free trade agreements, eliminate forced labor and child labor, and create an enabling environment for ethical business practices,” said Rob Mulligan, USCIB senior vice president for policy and government affairs.

The joint USCIB AFL-CIO letter is available here.

Donnelly Leads Business Push at OECD for FDI

Published on March 13, 2017

ShaunDonnelly_BIAC_OECD_InvestmentForumUSCIB’s Vice President for Investment and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly was leading the business voices at multiple events around the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Investment Week in Paris last week. Donnelly was the lead business speaker at the panel on “Is Investment Liberalization Shifting into Reverse?” at the OECD Global Forum on International Investment and the lead business respondent to presentations by academic experts on “Societal Benefits and Costs of Investment Treaties” at the OECD’s Third Annual Conference on Investment Treaties.

In both formal presentations, as well as in formal and informal interactions with government delegations from both ‎OECD member countries and leading developing and emerging governments, Donnelly emphasized the importance of investment agreements, including strong enforcement provisions, to facilitate much needed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows.

Per established OECD practice, Donnelly played a lead role in BIAC’s formal consultation, along with the parallel labor and civil society stakeholder groups, with the OECD’s Investment Committee on Wednesday, March 8.  With investment agreements under attacks from some quarters, it is important for business to speak up these sorts or international fora, whether at OECD or elsewhere, on the importance of FDI for both the host economy and the home country and especially on the important role high standard investment agreements and strong enforcement provisions play in today’s global economy.

Senior investment policy experts from the State Department, U.S. Trade Representative and Treasury Department also participated in the meetings last week.

USCIB, OECD and BIAC Leadership Discuss Trade, Digital Revolution

Published on March 10, 2017
Rob Mulligan, Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs addresses OECD and USCIB members, alongside USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson (center) and Rick Johnston, Citi (left)
Rob Mulligan, Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs addresses OECD and USCIB members, alongside USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson (center) and Rick Johnston, Citi (left)

USCIB hosted leadership from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Business at OECD (BIAC) on March 9 in Washington DC, following a successful joint OECD-BIAC-USCIB Fostering Digital Transformation Conference the day prior. Nearly forty of USCIB’s leadership and members attended the meeting, including USCIB Vice Chair Rick Johnston (Citi) and Vice-Chair of USCIB’s China Committee Tad Ferris.

OECD and Business at OECD officials included OECD’s Deputy Secretary General Doug Frantz, Secretary General of Business at OECD (BIAC) Bernhard Welschke, Senior Policy Director at BIAC Nicole Primmer and Acting Head of the OECD Washington Center Susan Fridy.

This was a timely opportunity for USCIB, OECD and BIAC to have a roundtable discussion on a wide range of issues that are being addressed in the OECD such as tax, cross-border data flows, health, investment, digital trade, the Sustainable Development Goals and the G20. These issues were framed in a larger discussion of the role of business in the current political and economic climate in the U.S., about which Frantz said, “we need help from business to convey that free trade, open borders and anti-corruption guidelines require multilateral engagement. The U.S. and the U.S. business community benefit enormously from the work done at the OECD.”

Doug Franz, Deputy Secretary General OECD addresses USCIB members
Doug Frantz, Deputy Secretary General OECD addresses USCIB members

Frantz also emphasized the role of digital innovation in providing future growth, prosperity and equal distribution of wealth to curtail the negative effects of the digital revolution, noting “taking digital innovation and its breakthroughs and making sure that the breakthroughs are more evenly distributed through training, skills-building and education that is based on deductive reasoning, will cushion the fall for people who are at risk of losing their jobs to the digital revolution.”

WTO Becomes a Target in Trump’s Trade Agenda

Published on March 6, 2017

WTO OMCPresident Trump’s Administration has recently released a congressionally mandated annual report on the U.S. trade agenda, which re-examines the U.S.’s relationship with multilateral organizations and, in particular, targets the World Trade Organization (WTO). The report asserts that the U.S. has a right not to abide by WTO decisions that are not favorable to the U.S. trade agenda.

USCIB supports numerous elements of the report, specifically those regarding an open and fair global trading system, eliminating trade barriers, enabling U.S. companies to compete on a level playing field around the world and effectively enforcing trade rules. But it urged caution regarding the WTO.

USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson stated: “We encourage the new administration to engage with the WTO in addressing areas for improvement in the operation of the WTO. But it’s important to recognize that the American economy, our companies, and our workers benefit from U.S. participation in the WTO, including through such agreements as the WTO Information Technology Agreement, and will reap important benefits from the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement that just entered into force last week.”

Senior administration officials concurred. “The WTO is in some ways very necessary,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on CNBC. “You probably do need an arbiter of some sort if you’re going to have international trade.”

As reported by CNBC, Ross, who said he will be largely focusing on trade issues, added the administration will also be cracking down on enforcement of existing trade laws and making sure that countervailing and anti-dumping duties established in trade remedy cases are being collected. Part of the trade agenda will be facilitating U.S. exports to international markets, but the flip side is “preventing illegally subsidized goods from coming in — and really enforcing it,” Ross said.

The full interview with Ross is available on CNBC is here.

BIAC Holds Annual Consultation With OECD Ambassadors

Published on February 21, 2017
OECD
BIAC Secretary General Bernhard Welschke and BIAC Chair Phil O’Reilly address Secretary General Angel Gurria and OECD Ambassadors

BIAC held its annual consultation with OECD Ambassadors last month, providing an opportunity for the business community to identify priorities for the OECD agenda that affect both the private sector and governments. Senior business leaders discussed the OECD Secretary General and Ambassadors timely challenges and ways forward in global markets. This annual consultation is part of BIAC’s active advocacy with top OECD officials and governments throughout the year.

The consultation focused on outlining appropriate macro-economic and regulatory policies to strengthen growth, defending and promoting trade and investment for competitiveness, addressing tax uncertainty to boost investment, seizing the benefits of innovation and the digital economy, strengthening human capital to build dynamic inclusive economies, and including business in development and a clean environment.

A full report from the consultations can be found here.

ICC’s Danilovich Writes in FT on Importance of Services to American Economy

Published on February 21, 2017

The Financial Times has published a letter to the editor from ICC Secretary General John Danilovich on the importance of services to the American economy. Danilovich, who has served as U.S. ambassador to Brazil and Costa Rica, writes that “tit-for-tat trade responses sparked by new border taxes could come at a considerable cost for the U.S. services sector– and the growing number of Americans whose livelihoods depend on it. When it comes to trade policy, nostalgia is no substitute for the realities of today’s global economy.”

To read Danilovich’s letter in the FT, please visit this link (subscriber log-in is required).

USCIB’s Shaun Donnelly Educates US Government on BIAC-OECD

Published on February 16, 2017

Shaun DonnellyThe State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business (EB) Affairs organized a day-long training session February 15 for sixty U.S. Government officials from nearly twenty U.S. Government agencies on how to be an effective Delegate when representing the U.S. Government at OECD committee meetings and other sessions in Paris.  State invited USCIB Vice President Shaun Donnelly to represent business and broader “stakeholder” groups on a panel that also included representatives from OECD’s Washington Center as well as former OECD Secretariat and U.S. Mission staffers.

Shaun is a former U.S. Ambassador and senior economic policy official at State with long experience in a variety of OECD meetings.  He explained the role of the OECD’s three recognized “stakeholder” organizations, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC), Trade Union Advisory Council (TUAC), and OECD Watch representing civil society groups.

Focusing on BIAC, Shaun explained BIAC’s extensive efforts to provide constructive, real-time input from its international business members across the broad swath of OECD’s committee and working groups.  Shaun emphasized USCIBs role as “the single US business voice in the BIAC and OECD process” and reminded the staff from around the USG of USCIB’s ability to connect them with the U.S. private sector and help advance U.S. interests in the OECD.

NAFTA Renegotiation an Opportunity to Modernize 20 Year-Old Agreement

Published on February 13, 2017

North American Union, NAU concept on a gears, 3D renderingPresident Trump’s promise to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement is already rattling some companies and rippling across the Mexican economy. Growth in the country’s GDP is projected to slow to a crawl in 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal. Exports account for a third of the country’s economic activity, and some 80 percent of these go to the U.S.

Depending on how it is handled, renegotiating NAFTA could provide an opportunity to update the agreement, according to USCIB Senior Vice President Rob Mulligan. “There are aspects of NAFTA that could be improved, and provisions that could be added to address important economic changes over the last 20 years,” he observed. “But it would be critical to keep those provisions that have enabled U.S. companies to grow during that time as well.”

Mulligan said USCIB was canvassing several of its committees to see where NAFTA could be improved upon – and what “red lines” exist for companies in terms of rolling back or overturning certain key provisions in the landmark agreement.

NAFTA was the first U.S. trade agreement to include binding rules on labor and environmental protections – although these were included in a side agreement, and they have been incorporated into all U.S. trade agreements negotiated since. In addition, NAFTA included strong investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions – a key factor in gaining American business support for the agreement in light of a legacy of expropriations in Mexico and elsewhere.

A $127 annual boost to the U.S. economy

Eva Hampl, USCIB’s director of trade, investment and financial services, reports that a well-attended program last week hosted by the Washington International Trade Association included presentations on priorities for NAFTA renegotiation from USCIB member companies and others in the business community. Ralph Carter (FedEx), emphasized that Mexico and Canada are the United States’ second- and third-largest trading partners, and he cited a Peterson Institute study indicating that NAFTA brings the US $127 billion per year in additional income.

Carter said that FedEx wants to help modernize cross-border trade. Consider, he said, that it takes an average of 17 hours and three different drivers for a single truck to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Or that the “de minimis” threshold for expedited, duty-free entry of goods stands at $800 for the United States, but  only $50 for Mexico and $15 for Canada — creating barriers for “just-in-time” delivery of many components. A more seamless border, Carter emphasized, does not mean a less secure border – both can be achieved through smart reform efforts.

Looking northward, President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today agreed on the broad importance of U.S.-Canada commercial relations. “We recognize our profound shared economic interests, and will work tirelessly to provide growth and jobs for both countries,” the leaders said in a joint statement. “Canada is the most important foreign market for 35 U.S. states, and more than $2 billion in two-way trade flows across our shared border every day. Millions of American and Canadian middle-class jobs, including in the manufacturing sector, depend on our partnership. We affirm the importance of building on this existing strong foundation for trade and investment and further deepening our relationship, with the common goal of strengthening the middle class.”