US Funding of the OECD is Critical to US Global Economic Policy Influence

by Whitney Baird, USCIB President & CEO 

As Congress debates on whether to maintain the current levels of funding for the OECD, USCIB urges Congress to maintain the current level of U.S. financial contribution and stresses that diminishing funding will have consequences for U.S. economic interests and the U.S. role in multilateral policymaking.

 

Congress must maintain the current level of U.S. financial contribution to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The United States benefits most when we are fully engaged with the rest of the world through vibrant international organizations such as the OECD. It stands out as an established venue for promoting U.S. interests and fostering sensible policies for sustained economic growth among OECD partners and other nations around the globe.

Few of the international organizations to which the United States belongs are as supportive of U.S. values and economic policies as the OECD. The OECD’s mission is to promote global economic growth – growth that benefits U.S. businesses, consumers, workers and taxpayers. From a U.S. business perspective, the OECD is uniquely open and receptive to the views and real-world experiences of the private sector.

As the U.S. representative to Business at OECD, the private sector voice in OECD policymaking, the U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB) attests to the positive impact of the OECD across a range of issues affecting the competitiveness of the U.S. economy, including investment, taxation, trade, energy and environment, health, competition, consumer policy, bribery and corporate governance. USCIB members rely on the OECD to be an institutional voice of evidence- and data-based policy guidance and assessment, influencing policies and practices in markets important to U.S. business and to jobs generated for U.S. taxpayers.

The OECD delivers multilaterally agreed principles and standards that level the international playing field, provide business certainty, and save billions of dollars for U.S. companies. For example, the United Nations estimates over $1 trillion in bribes are paid worldwide each year, equating to a 20 percent tax on foreign investment. The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention enshrines the policies and principles of the US. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the gold standard for combating corrupt practices that increase the cost of doing business internationally.

The OECD’s creation of a global platform on product recalls has helped countries protect citizens from physical and economic harm, providing a single window for sharing information and facilitating action and coordination for recalls in a complex global marketplace. The OECD advances a critical U.S. risk-based approach to the development of digital rules and policies, for example, through its OECD Artificial Intelligence Principles, the OECD Privacy Guidelines and the OECD Policy Framework on Digital Security.

As one of the world’s largest and most trusted sources of data and analysis, OECD guidelines, rules and best practices are well regarded and emulated around the world by both member and non-member countries, OECD economists share information, encouraging countries to embrace high-level standards, so everyone plays by the same rules and cooperates on shared objectives. This is important to U.S. stakeholders, particularly as the OECD considers adding new members including current accession candidates Brazil, Peru, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. Crucially, the OECD and its 38 members serve as a powerful voice against anti-competitive and non-market economy practices aggressively promoted by nations such as China.

We believe continued strong U.S. engagement with the OECD helps the United States to lead the policy debates that take place in the wide range of OECD committees. We encourage Congress to maintain current funding levels for the OECD. If the United States diminishes its funding and influence in the OECD, the consequences for U.S. economic interests and the U.S. role in multilateral policymaking would be substantial.

Robinson Presides Over His Final Board of Directors Meeting as President and CEO 

L-R: USCIB Chair Eric Loeb (Salesforce), Peter Robinson, Board member Emily Dickens (SHRM) and USCIB Secretary Robert DeLaMater (Sullivan & Cromwell)

Following a 40-year career at USCIB, President and CEO Peter Robinson presided over his final USCIB Board of Directors meeting on May 24.  

Robinson, who announced his retirement in December, expressed his appreciation to the USCIB Board, as well as his predecessors, in supporting the institutional advancement of USCIB into what it is today. USCIB Chair Eric Loeb led a champagne toast to Robinson in honor of his service. 

“Leading the work of USCIB has been a fulfilling and exciting career for me,” said Robinson in his remarks to the Board. “It has been a real privilege to work and form relationships with such a diverse and dedicated group of people over the years including staff colleagues, members and partners in our Global Affiliates. I am proud of what we have accomplished together for the benefit of our members, for business, and for society at large.” 

While a new President and CEO of USCIB is yet to be announced, Robinson did emphasize that looking forward, USCIB will need to continue to drive home the importance of “upstream” work in positioning business at the table with multilateral institutions to influence the international business landscape and to support USCIB’s Global Affiliates—ICC, Business at OECD and IOE—in that effort. 

Robinson has been President and CEO of USCIB for 18 years and will be stepping down at the end of the summer.  

USCIB Welcomes New Leadership to 2022-2024 Board of Trustees and Board of Directors  

Following recent membership elections, USCIB is pleased to welcome new members to the Board of Trustees and Board of Directors for the 2022-2024 term and to congratulate reelected members: 

New Trustees include Michael Froman, Mastercard Vice Chairman & President, Strategic Growth; and Timothy Ryan, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Senior Partner & Chair. PepsiCo, Inc Chairman & CEO Ramon Laguarta was reelected.  

New Directors include Dorothy Attwood, The Walt Disney Company Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy;  Sahra English, Mastercard Vice President, Global Public Policy; Tam Robert Nguyen, Bechtel Corporation Global Head of Sustainability; and Chris Sharrock, Microsoft Corporation Vice President, UN Affairs and International Organizations. Salesforce Executive Vice President, Government Affairs Eric Loeb and PMI Global Services, Inc Vice President, External Affairs J.B. Simko were reelected. 

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson also expressed his appreciation to the Nominating Committee: USCIB Trustee Ester Baiget (Chair), president and CEO, Novozymes; Trustee Paul Knopp, U.S. chair and CEO, KPMG LLP; and USCIB Vice Chair and Trustee Michele Parmelee, deputy CEO and global chief people & purpose officer, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. 

USCIB President Peter Robinson Issues Statement Upon Death of Richard Trumka

Richard Trumka
Image Source: Alex Brandon/AP Photo

New York, N.Y., August 05, 2021—USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson has issued the following statement upon the death of Richard Trumka:

“On behalf of USCIB and its member companies, I would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family and colleagues of Richard Trumka. His dedication to the labor movement and the interests of American workers and their families has long earned him the respect and admiration of the business community.

“That dedication also extended to working people around the world. As the American member of Business at OECD (BIAC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE), USCIB has been proud to work with Rich and the AFL-CIO in both the OECD and ILO, where we shared the common objective of ensuring that labor rights are respected internationally. Rich was a true global leader with whom we were privileged to work in partnership.”

About USCIB

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development, and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence. Its members include U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world. As the U.S. affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Organization of Employers (IOE) and Business at OECD (BIAC), USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

Robinson Featured in ILO’s “First Person: COVID-19 Stories” Series

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson

The International Labor Organization (ILO) launched a series of “First person: COVID-19 stories from the world of work,” collecting stories from around the globe and giving a voice to government officials, business owners and essential workers, those working from home and those who have lost their jobs, young people just entering the world of work and retirees-turned-volunteers.

Recently, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson gave an interview of how the pandemic has affected USCIB, how it is responding, lessons learned from the experience and how we will all be “confronting a new reality” rather than a “return to normal.”

“One major lesson of this pandemic is a reaffirmation that we are all global citizens and we are fighting against an enemy that knows no border, so we must ensure that we join hands across borders and work together in a multilateral way on an economic recovery that is inclusive,” said Robinson.

Robinson also discussed USCIB’s approaches in ensuring the safety of its employees, objectives to support USCIB’s international network (such as that of the International Organization of Employers), and engaging in global work in more vulnerable economies where livelihoods are being upended and where Small and Medium Enterprises deserve special attention.

To view Robinson’s video, click here.

To view the collection of stories compiled by the ILO, please visit here.

Business Continuity During COVID-19

Visit the following pages for more information:

USCIB Adopts Carbon Offset Program for Employee International Travel

USCIB today announced that it has initiated a program to support carbon offsets for its employees’ international travel.

This initiative reflects USCIB’s continuous engagement in international climate policy deliberations supporting U.S. private sector engagement and solutions towards GHG emissions reduction, adaptation and resilience, and its recognition of its global carbon footprint.

In 2019, USCIB staff, together with member company representatives, participated in over 90 meetings and negotiations of some 18 international institutions in over 25 locations around the globe.

Beginning this month, January, 2020, carbon offset tables are being used by USCIB to calculate the carbon equivalent costs of international airline flights. That amount is being donated to sustainability programs such as forest conservation and management. The contributions will go to organizations participating with airlines most often used by USCIB staff.

In many cases, specific options of sustainability programs are provided to enable the contributor to make a “greatest impact” choice.  Where an airline does not work directly with an established organization, USCIB will decide on the recipient program.

USCIB recognizes that in the future, airlines themselves may be required to offset emissions under the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), agreed in 2018 in Montreal, which when enacted would make USCIB’s program redundant for international passenger offsets. However, the lack of agreement on an implementation schedule at the recent COP 25 meeting in Madrid of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) resulted in a postponement of enactment beyond the original 2021 goal. Until that time, USCIB believes that its carbon offset program is a positive contribution that it can make in the face of the global climate challenge.

USCIB will maintain a record of the offsets that will be available to members who might wish to see progress updates.

Robinson Speaks at ILO Conference, ICC-UK

USCIB’s Peter Robinson (far left) speaks at the annual meeting of ICC United Kingdom, chaired by ICC-UK Chairman Sir Michael Rake (center).

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson took part in high-level panel discussions at the recent International Labor Conference, the ILO’s annual high-level gathering, as well as the annual general meeting of ICC-UK, the International Chamber of Commerce‘s chapter in the United Kingdom. At both events, he discussed new challenges of multilateralism in an era when some observers have called the multilateral model’s viability into question.

At the ILO, Robinson took part in a discussion of multilateral institutions and the future of work, alongside ILO Director General Guy Ryder, WTO Director General Roberto Azevêdo, OECD Chief of Staff Gabriela Ramos and Sharan Burrow, secretary general of the International Trade Union Confederation, among others. He said that, from the perspective of employers, it is clear that businesses do well in stable and prosperous societies where inequality is not as rampant.

“The real question is whether governments, who are the ones to tackle inequality, are able to create the right kind of legal and regulatory frameworks to do so,” Robinson observed. “Global institutions need to continue to help governments by providing appropriate research and statistics and policy prescriptions – the OECD and ILO play important roles in those areas.”

The USCIB president called for an “inclusive multilateralism,” where all stakeholders are present and a climate of trust prevails. “Business wants to be part of the solution,” he said. “But we need to feel like we are listened to, and that we have a seat at the table. Just as we need more inclusive forms of economic growth, so we also need a more inclusive model of multilateralism, one that draws on the best ideas from broadly representative groups in civil society, including business and employers’ organizations.”

At the ICC-UK meeting, Robinson joined a panel on the future of the WTO and the multilateral trading system. He recalled recent USCIB papers on WTO modernization as well as the ongoing e-commerce negotiationsUSCIB’s vision for the WTO, he said, “focuses not only on strengthening existing agreements, but also on addressing subsidies and other market-distorting support provided to state-owned enterprises, the establishment of new rules for current issues such as digital trade and customs processes on electronic transmissions, and ensuring a properly functioning appellate body, among other issues. The U.S. has been a major beneficiary of the WTO’s dispute settlement system, bringing and winning more cases than any other WTO member.”

Robinson was also a guest at ICC-UK’s board meeting (as was Crispin Conroy, ICC’s new Geneva representative), where he provided an overview of USCIB/ICC-USA priorities.

The Global Trade Talks Nobody’s Talking About

Nick Ashton Hart

This column is written by Nick Ashton Hart, Geneva representative of the Digital Trade Network, which is supported by USCIB, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) amongst others. Nick has helped forge new paths forward at the WTO on digital trade rules, and works directly with the 76 WTO Members who have just begun negotiation of a digital trade agreement at the World Trade Organization.

At the December 2017 WTO ministerial in Buenos Aires, 71 countries made a political declaration to begin discussing new global rules to facilitate the expansion of the digital economy beneficial to both developed and developing countries. Thanks to intensive work by those countries in 2018, on January 29, on the margins of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, 76 countries (notably including the US, EU, and China) announced the launch of formal negotiations.

All the major economies, most of the G20, and many smaller states are all taking part, including some of the world’s poorest countries. In total the vast majority of the world’s economy is at the table. Since it is estimated that the digital economy underpins approximately one-third of global GDP – and rising – this is a negotiation that will impact industry everywhere – and people everywhere.

You would think that so important a negotiation would have created a very large increase in the level of engagement by the private sector across the board – in capitals and in Geneva. If you think that, you would be wrong: many delegations are surprised that entire economic sectors are not engaged despite the potential ramifications on their businesses. The Ambassadors of some of the world’s largest economies tell me that their ministry is not hearing from the private sector in the capital, or they are hearing only generalities and not the specifics necessary to create negotiating positions. The intensity of activity by the private sector in Geneva is also not much different now than it was in 2017, or 2016 or 2015. To give you an example of how serious the problem is, almost half of the written submissions to the talks during 2018 reference financial services – yet many Ambassadors say they cannot remember the last time a representative from a bank came to see them.

The private sector’s limited engagement could be explained by the fact that their limited pool of experts are busy elsewhere trying to prevent a trade war or keep their companies out of escalating tariffs. The relative newness of the talks could also explain it.  Whatever the reason, for me to hear increasingly frustrated ambassadors across countries at all levels of development asking me ‘where is business and when will they tell us in specific what they need and why’ when a negotiation has already started is, frankly, worrying, especially given that the participating 76 states have agreed to table proposals by mid-April of this year with the objective of having a draft agreement by the end of July. While in my view that timeline is likely to slip, clearly time is of the essence.

WTO delegations are looking at some of the world’s most important economic questions, such as:

  • What can trade policy do to help narrow the “digital divide” (connecting the half of humanity not yet online)
  • Will data flows be protected from trade distorting interference – interference which is presently growing globally – and how will the need to ensure other public policy priorities like the protection of personal information be factored in?
  • Should the moratorium on applying customs duties to digital goods be made permanent?
  • How can trade rules help the spread of mobile financial services to close the financial inclusion gap? (almost two billion people do not have access to financial services)
  • What can trade policy do to foster consumer and business trust in purchasing goods and services across borders?
  • How can trade rules promote use of digital contracts, adoption of digital signatures and customs and logistics processes, and make trade finance easier to get and use, all to help SMEs trade more?

The trade policy community needs and deserves the best advice both in Geneva and in national capitals as they work to answer these big questions. The answers could profoundly benefit not just commerce but everyone. But as I have so often heard from delegations – and I have often said it myself – if countries don’t understand what’s in it for their economies in adopting new rules to promote digital trade, they won’t. The private sector has a critical role to play in making that case. So far, frankly, it is failing to do that effectively enough.

Meanwhile non-governmental organisations that are skeptical, or opposed, to any new rules for the digital economy are both well-organised and very active in Geneva and international capitals. This statement will be released on April 1, signed by a very large number of NGOs, on the first day of the biggest digital-trade event of the year in Geneva, UNCTAD’s Ecommerce Week. You can find a large collection of NGOs have been active for many years on-the-ground and there are several people employed in Geneva just on trade policy advocacy generally opposed to any new trade rules related to the digital economy. Meanwhile, the only dedicated industry person in Geneva on digital trade is myself.

Opportunities like these negotiations don’t come by very often in international affairs: time is short. The private sector has been asking for new rules for online trade for years. Now is the time for it to make clear what it needs and why in enough detail and invest in helping countries at all levels of development understand why it matters to them … or watch the opportunity slip away.

Nick Ashton-Hart is the Geneva representative of the Digital Trade Network.

You can follow him at @nashtonhart.

An earlier version of this column appeared on the Council of Foreign Relations website at: 

https://www.cfr.org/blog/global-trade-talks-digital-economy-nobodys-talking-about.

In Op-ed, Robinson Stresses Business’s Critical Role in WTO Modernization

With members of the World Trade Organization set to launch new talks on digital trade amid calls for the organization to be reformed, USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson has appealed for a strong business role in efforts to modernize the global trade body.

In an op-ed published in The Hill, USCIB’s president wrote: “The views of the private sector, which has a direct stake in the rules that result from such government-to-government discussions, should be actively solicited and given careful consideration by WTO member states.”

Robinson called on governments to strengthen the WTO in four key areas:

  • tackle subsidies and the role of state-owned enterprises
  • develop new rules for cutting-edge trade issues
  • modernize the WTO’s rules and procedures, and
  • improve the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanisms

“If governments work with business, we are confident that the WTO can be reformed and modernized to continue effectively advancing a rules-based global trading system,” Robinson wrote. Read the full op-ed on The Hill’s website.