Growth, Jobs and Open Markets Archives

WTO and Industry Leaders Discuss Future Work for WTO

Published on June 30, 2021

USCIB and member companies Deloitte, Google, Mastercard, Merck, Pfizer and Walmart participated in a June 23 exclusive Virtual Trade Dialogue with World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and several WTO ambassadors. The Trade Dialogue, facilitated by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), provided a robust exchange between global industry leaders and the WTO leadership in three areas: WTO response to COVID-19, deliverables for the twelth WTO ministerial meeting (MC12) and future work for the WTO.

Ngozi expressed cautious optimism about the future of international cooperation, as evident from the successful outcomes of the recent G7, the G20 global health and the U.S.-EU bilateral summits. She reiterated the need to deliver concrete results at MC12 in the areas of trade and health, fishery subsidies and food security as a way to restore credibility in the WTO as an effective institution. Ngozi and WTO ambassadors pressed business leaders to engage their host governments to deliver outcomes, as well as to communicate the importance to global industry of an effective WTO, now and in the future.

Her messages were underscored by ICC Chair and Mastercard Executive Chairman Ajay Banga, who outlined the significance of trade to global economic recovery, and the imperative that nations reinvigorate the WTO as a functional negotiating and adjudicatory body. B20 Chair Emma Marcegaglia concurred, promoting a WTO reform roadmap and other trade objectives business would like adopted this fall by G20 leaders as a catalyst for MC12.

Industry participants expressed hope for progress in areas, such as the role of the WTO in future health emergencies, joint initiatives on e-commerce and services regulations, and trade facilitation for a circular economy, gender inclusivity and micro, small and medium enterprises.

For more, including a summary of the issues raised, click here to link to a WTO report on the Trade Dialogue.

APEC Workshop Discusses COVID-19 Lessons for Customs and Trade Facilitation

Published on June 16, 2021

In partnership with the New Zealand Customs Service, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) held a virtual workshop as part of their recently endorsed project “Customs Response to COVID-19 Trade Recovery: Lessons Learnt and Future Opportunities.”

USCIB Director, Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin, joined by, among others, customs officials of APEC economies, as well as customs experts from the private sector and international organizations, used this workshop to examine and reflect upon trade facilitation issues during the COVID-19 pandemic including challenges, best practices and how to continue forward.

“I emphasized the work done to assist USCIB members and document the barriers they faced at international borders during COVID. I also highlighted our Customs and Trade Facilitation COVID Recommendations and core priorities in our 2021 APEC Policy Priorities Paper, which have been shared with economies and organizations,” said Giblin.  “Many of the hurdles faced during COVID could have been reduced or eliminated through robust and accelerated implementation of TFA commitments.”

Giblin also expressed the importance and helpfulness of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) communications approach with members of the trade community, from standing calls to consolidated websites, updates and intake portal to engaging directly on concerns in the COVID environment and encouraging other economies to adopt these practices, which should be seen as best practices. Additionally, Giblin applauded the approach taken by other U.S. government agencies in providing consolidated information and aiding in separating fact from rumor during this critical time.

She also continued to raise awareness on the recent WTO communication entitled, “Supporting the Timely and Efficient Release of Global Goods Through Accelerated Implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.”

“About half of the APEC economies have already become co-sponsors of the communication and USCIB encourages all others to become co-sponsors as well,” added Giblin.

Brazil’s Accession to OECD: USCIB Hosts Discussion on Regulatory Good Practices

Published on June 16, 2021

USCIB co-hosted a third meeting of the Brazil-OECD Business Policy Roundtable last week, gathering U.S. and Brazilian industry and government officials to discuss the advancement of regulatory good practices (RGPs) to facilitate Brazil’s accession to the OECD.

According to USCIB Director for Investment, Trade and China Alice Slayton Clark, Brazil is currently undertaking significant regulatory reform consistent with OECD guidelines, such as Recommendations of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance. Ministry of Economy Program Director Kelvia Frota de Albuquerque noted recent actions toward that end, including Decree 10,411 that makes regulatory impact analysis (RIA) mandatory for all significant regulations, which identifies the regulatory problem and assesses available alternatives to direct regulation. The decree was issued pursuant to the Regulatory Agencies Law and the Economic Free Law of 2019, coming into force with respect to the Ministry of Economy this past April, and will apply to other federal administrative bodies on October 14, 2021.

It is part of a whole-of-government effort to harmonize and streamline regulatory functions, according to Frota de Albuquerque. A restructuring of licensing and permitting throughout the country at the regional, municipal and local levels will require a significant cultural shift, high-level intervention from the Ministry of Economy and significant capacity building, data management, stakeholder engagement and ex-post analysis.

“Regulatory reform in Brazil is catalyzed not only by its quest for OECD accession but by regulatory commitments it will undertake when it ratifies the Protocol Relating to Trade Rules and Transparency signed in October 2020, updating the U.S.-Brazil Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation,” said Clark.

Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Latin America Courtney Smothers said that she hopes other workstreams will also inspire progress, including reforms advanced through the World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee, the U.S.-Brazil regulator-to-regulator dialogue, the Brazil-U.S. CEO forum and regional avenues, such as the Summit of the Americas.

Australia and Canada will be leading an OECD peer review of Brazil’s reform efforts, issuing recommendations next year for additional regulatory improvement, said Manuel Gerardo Flores Romero, coordinator of the OECD Regulatory Policy Programme in Latin America.

The Roundtable discussions are a private sector collaboration led by the USCIB, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Brazil-U.S. Business Council and the Brazil National Confederation of Industry (CNI). Additional roundtable discussions will be held throughout 2021, covering investment and trade, tax, environment and sustainable development, innovation and intellectual property. Digital issues were discussed at the March Roundtable earlier this year.

USCIB Raises Concerns About a Vaccines Waiver at WTO

Published on June 16, 2021

USCIB joined a multi-industry letter to World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala regarding the ongoing discussions of a waiver of certain intellectual property (IP) rights for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19.

Serving as representative for Business Partners to CONVINCE, an initiative of The USCIB Foundation, Brian Lowry, USCIB senior vice president, wanted to ensure that USCIB was doing its part to help improve vaccine availability.

“Fundamentally, the letter raises concerns about the practical impact of the waiver of IP rights on the real issues of distribution and administration of the vaccines,” Lowry said. “The challenges here are multifaceted and need a holistic approach, rather than one narrowly focused on intellectual property. There are trade-related obstacles that are preventing timely – and equitable – access to these critical products.”

The letter highlights genuine trade barriers such as export restrictions and technical regulations, quarantine obligations on essential transport and logistics services providers, as well as the removal or reduction of tariffs on goods that are considered essential to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter also stated that industry agrees with world leaders that “nobody is safe, until everyone is safe” and is proud of how many companies have mobilized and shifted resources to help meet this challenge.

In addition to USCIB, the letter was signed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, BusinessEurope, the Federation of Korean Industries, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Global Innovation Policy Center.

USCIB Supports New Public Education Initiative to Combat Black Market Trade

Published on June 9, 2021

Washington D.C., June 08, 2021—USCIB joined United to Safeguard America from Illegal Trade (USA-IT) in launching a new public education initiative designed to provide local officials, law enforcement, and thought leaders with information and training programs to help tackle illegal trade and raise public awareness of the depth of the problem as well as the severe consequences inflicted on states and municipalities by black market profiteers.

The campaign will run through 2021 across eight states facing critical illegal trade issues: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

The black market is a $509 billion a year business, and it’s growing. Criminals get rich from illegal trade by robbing revenues meant to provide essential services to Americans. Instead of helping taxpayers, that money is used to fund those who illegally traffic in drugs, weapons, and even people. These groups exploit governments and citizens, manipulate financial systems, spur corruption, and cultivate instability and violence that threaten our communities.

No one government or single industry can address this complex problem on its own. Tackling illegal trade requires cooperation and public-private partnerships and fully utilizing existing expertise, information sharing, innovative solutions, and evolving technologies. Public actors, the private sector, and civil society alike all have a role to play.

For more information about USA-IT’s efforts to combat illegal trade, and to get involved, visit USAIT.org.

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, the International Organization of Employers 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.

About USA-IT

United to Safeguard America from Illegal Trade (USA-IT) is a public and private sector partnership protecting Americans’ security and prosperity from black market criminals.

Contacts

Sam Dashiell
T. +1 (202) 480 1617
E. contact@USAIT.org

Kira Yevtukhova
T. +1 (202) 617 3160
E. kyevtukhova@uscib.org

Global Business Welcomes New WTO Director-General Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Published on June 9, 2021
Photo credit: Martial Trezzini/EPA, via Shutterstock

USCIB members had two occasions in early June to hear from the new World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on her priorities for global trade and on opportunities for business to engage with her on this agenda in the months ahead.

During the annual International Organization of Employers (IOE) General Council meeting, newly-elected IOE President Michele Parmelee (and USCIB Vice Chair) introduced Okonjo-Iweala, who gave a keynote address and then participated in a panel moderated by Parmelee. The panel, which also featured International Labor Organization (ILO) Director General Guy Ryder and Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzales Laya, discussed the linkages between trade and employment, as well as what is needed to fully unleash the potential of trade in order to rebuild a global economy still reeling from the impact of COVID-19.

“Trade integration, underpinned by the multilateral rules framework, has brought about higher productivity, greater competition, lower prices and improved living standards,” said Okonjo-Iweala. She made the point that “trade is about people,” and asked IOE to help explain to the public that the WTO is not only about rules but about touching the lives of people in the street. She encouraged IOE to engage with WTO in demonstrating the impact of trade on job creation.

Later in the week, in another major exchange with international business through the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Okonjo-Iweala stressed the importance of engaging more with companies to help the WTO better develop policies for moving goods across borders.

“USCIB, the sole U.S. affiliate of the ICC, will continue to engage through ICC in the development of a process for more frequent, smaller group discussions on industry concerns,” said USCIB Director for Investment, Trade, and China Alice Slayton Clark. “As part of her engagement with industry, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is keen to learn how to better advance micro, small and medium enterprises that struggle to participate in global value chains and are currently handicapped by insufficient trade financing during the pandemic downturn.”

According to Clark, Okonjo-Iweala acknowledged that the WTO is facing a credibility crisis, no longer viewed as an institution “for people.” ​She indicated that to dispel this image, the WTO must return to the goals laid out in its preamble: trade negotiation should increase living standards, create jobs, and support sustainable development, yielding tangible benefits for all.  According to Okonjo-Iweala, this will also help industry overcome the misperception that it neglects civil society concerns.

Finally, Okonjo-Iweala expressed hope that, to reestablish the WTO as a functional body, the twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva in December 2021 will yield results in four key areas:

  • Conclude twenty-year-old negotiations to curb fishery subsidies, delivering on goals from the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
  • Agree on a Trade and Health Initiative, to enhance international rules on addressing public health emergencies and supply chain resiliency.
  • Agree to strengthen food security, including a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding programs especially in the face of global pandemics.
  • Agree on how to reform the dispute settlement mechanism so the WTO can resume adjudicatory functions.

She also hopes the ministerial will mark significant advancement in the Joint Initiative on E-commerce, the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation, and women empowerment initiatives. ​Further, Okonjo-Iweala looks for nations to relaunch negotiations on an environmental goods agreement and push for measures that enhance sustainability and the circular economy. Okonjo-Iweala would like ​business to ​support and assist ​​in the advancement of these outcomes.

Digital Economy Conference Assesses a Decade of OECD’s Internet Policy Principles

Published on June 9, 2021
Digital Economy Conference panelists and speakers

USCIB, Business at OECD (BIAC), and the OECD held another successful Digital Economy conference on May 25, which focused on a decade of OECD’s Internet Policy Principles (IPPs) and aptly titled “Policymaking in a Data-Driven World.” Distinguished speakers from the OECD and both the public and private sectors provided insights and expertise during the event: AT&T, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, IBM Ireland, Walmart, the Inter-American Development Bank, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, MIT, Georgetown University and others.

The IPPs, adopted in 2011, have underpinned the OECD’s evolving work on digital economy issues. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has required many to conduct their lives primarily digitally, highlighted the salience of the IPPs, with its calls for global free flow of information and services, multistakeholder participation in policymaking, and consistent and effective privacy protections and cooperation to ensure Internet security.

“History will likely show that the IPPs were one of the OECD’s more noteworthy contributions to policymaking in a digital economy world,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson during his opening remarks.

Moreover, these themes have been echoed in recent digital economy work of the United Nations, the U.N. Internet Governance Forum and other multilateral bodies. The virtual conference also considered how the IPPs have been reflected in some of the OECD’s ground-breaking digital work – such as development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Principles and how IPPs may be employed to address challenges posed by the rapid pace of digital innovation and related changes to the digital ecosystem.

“Over this past year with the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed an incredible acceleration of the digital transformation which has made our cooperation with the OECD all the more important,” said BIAC Executive Director Hanni Rosenbaum. “We see this third phase of the digital project as a key opportunity to advance, among others, secure and globally interoperable policy frameworks for responsible data sharing and collaboration on cross-border data flows with trust.

The conference was the fifth Digital Economy conference organized by USCIB, BIAC and OECD, and the second conference in the series that has commemorated the late Joseph H. Alhadeff.

USCIB Members Present at USTR Webinar on WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

Published on June 2, 2021

In partnership with the United States Trade Representative (USTR), USCIB and NTFC collaborated on a webinar related to the accelerated implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the Committee on Trade Facilitation at the WTO.

At the core of the May 27 event was the communication that has been co-sponsored by nineteen countries, including two new co-sponsors North Macedonia and Switzerland: Australia; Brazil; Canada; Colombia; European Union; Iceland; Japan; Republic of Korea; Mexico; New Zealand; Norway; Singapore; the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu; Thailand; Turkey; United Kingdom and the United States, all of which “support the timely and efficient release of global goods through accelerated implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).” Linked to this communication is the U.S. and Norway communication to abolish consularization.

USCIB Director for Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin and private sector representatives from Amazon, Cargill, FedEx, and Intel, joined a responsive conversation about the importance of accelerating the implementation of the WTO TFA. According to Giblin, this was a great opportunity for USCIB members to share private sector experiences related to COVID and the need for accelerated implementation of the WTO TFA.

“The TFA, from negotiation to country implementation and all stages in between, has been a priority for USCIB,” said Giblin. “We are dedicated to robust implementation of the TFA down to the best practices, such as customs bonding (Article 7) and ATA Carnet (Article 10 – Temporary Admissions), that underpin the Articles of the Agreement.  Many of the hurdles faced during COVID, and many noted in our early recommendations, could have been reduced or eliminated through accelerated implementation of TFA commitments.”

“USCIB believes that the U.S. government-led webinar sets a high bar for other governments as these domestically focused private sector dialogues continue in the Committee on TF,” added Giblin.

USCIB calls on WTO Members to sign-on to both the communication for accelerated TFA implementation and communication related to the abolishment of consularization.

USCIB Board Member Rick Johnston (Citi) Elected Chair of Business at OECD

Published on May 19, 2021
Charles R. Johnston in 2015

USCIB Board of Directors member and Chair of USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee Charles (Rick) Johnston has been elected as the new Chair of Business at OECD (BIAC). BIAC’s General Assembly elected Johnston on May 19 and will succeed Phil O’Reilly.

According to a BIAC media release, Johnston will lead high-level engagement opportunities, including BIAC’s participation in the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting and the annual meeting with the OECD Secretary General and Ambassadors. He will also guide BIAC’s overall strategy ensuring that BIAC represents the broad interests of its members.

“It is a time of transformation and rejuvenation,” Johnston said at the General Assembly meeting. “The OECD is about to hand the reins over to Mathias Cormann, its new secretary general. In that position, Mr. Cormann will lead the Organization as it takes on an enhanced role for guiding its Members and others in a sustainable recovery from a devastating global pandemic, and in an era that sees fundamental challenges to the potency of democratic governance and market-based economies. Our service as a trusted and credible adviser to the OECD has never been more important.”

Click here to view BIAC’s media release.

 

USCIB Letter to Trade Representative Tai Supports Greener Trade Policy

Published on May 12, 2021

USCIB submitted a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai in response to Tai’s recent comments at the Center for American Progress Greening U.S. Trade Policy program. In her remarks, Tai outlined both the Biden Administration’s vision to green U.S. and multilateral trade policy and welcomed business engagement to share experience and ideas in this effort.

“We are keen to support a trade agenda that reinvigorates negotiations on environmental goods and services, addresses fossil fuel and fisheries subsidies, ensures compatibility between environmental and trade rules, and considers the circular economy holistically,” said USCIB Senior Vice President for Innovation, Regulation, and Trade Brian Lowry.

Lowry added: “USCIB and its members understand that resource conservation is a critical environmental consideration and that a resilient supply chain must recognize and account for the finite supply of planetary resources.”

In line with the explicit recognition of the criticality of resource conservation, the letter emphasized that outdated trade policies and international rules that restrict cross border flows of used products and secondary material feedstock continue to be obstacles to effective and efficient resource recovery. Reducing these barriers, alongside the encouragement and implementation of environmentally sound options to recycle and recover waste, will enable creative solutions that work in synergy with trade rather than impose counter-productive barriers.