Policy Areas Archives

USCIB Discusses Future of U.S. Manufacturing at Bloomberg Seminar

Published on April 20, 2016
Rob Ivester, Deputy Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Office, U.S. Department of Energy; Vinai Thummalapally, Executive Director, SelectUSA, U.S. Department of Commerce; Shaun Donnelly, Vice President, Investment and Financial Services, USCIB; Matthew Philips, Associate Editor, Blomberg Businessweek (Moderator)
L-R: Rob Ivester (U.S. Department of Energy), Vinai Thummalapally, (U.S. Department of Commerce), Shaun Donnelly (USCIB), Matthew Philips (Bloomberg Businessweek)

With aging and outdated infrastructure, the U.S. manufacturing industry is stalling. How will the United States regain its place as the global leader in manufacturing, and what will future manufacturing plants look like?

USCIB’s Vice President for Investment and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly was a lead panelist in Bloomberg Government’s April 19 Washington seminar “The Future of Manufacturing.” Sharing the panel with senior officials from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Energy, Donnelly offered a private-sector perspective on the role foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in U.S. manufacturing, and on the unique strengths and challenges of the United States as a manufacturing location.  He emphasized the rapid changes in manufacturing around the world that have led to increased competitive pressures.

“In today’s and tomorrow’s global value chain world, FDI drives growth here at home and is also a key tool for U.S.-based manufacturers, large and small, to serve growing international markets,” Donnelly said.

The seminar drew a large audience of Bloomberg subscribers on-line and in-person at Bloomberg Government’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.

UN 2030 Development Agenda Week

Published on April 18, 2016
Norine Kennedy and Peter Robinson speak at a press conference on December 9 at COP21 in Paris.Norine Kennedy and Peter Robinson speak at a press conference on December 9 at COP21 in Paris.

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Norine Kennedy and Peter Robinson speak at a press conference on December 9 at COP21 in Paris.

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L-R: Amina Mohammed (UN), Peter Robinson (USCIB), Alex Thier (USAID). Shawn Miles (MasterCard) and moderator Matthew Bishop (The Economist).

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Ronnie Goldberg unveils the Business for 2030 website at the Global Employers’ Summit in Bahrain.

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Business & Climate Summit 2015, ICC Secretary General John Danilovich.

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Business & Climate Summit 2015, ICC and USCIB Chairman Terry McGraw.

L-R: John Danilovich (ICC), Christiana Figueres (the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) and Terry McGraw (ICC).L-R: John Danilovich (ICC), Christiana Figueres (the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) and Terry McGraw (ICC).

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L-R: John Danilovich (ICC), Christiana Figueres (the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) and Terry McGraw (ICC).

As United Nations members gather in New York to sign the Paris Climate Agreement and discuss follow-up on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed last year, we thought it timely to recap some of the activities USCIB and its global network undertook in 2015 in support of these pivotal initiatives:

Read USCIB’s Statement: “Setting the 2015 Sustainability Agenda In Motion”

North American Regional Consultation on Climate Change

USCIB convened the North American Business Consultation  on Climate Change on June 23 in Washington, D.C.; this session, organized with the International Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the International Emissions Trading Association, highlighted U.S. and Canadian business priorities for the U.N. climate agreement to be finalized in Paris this December.

In his opening comments to the day-long conference, with over 80 participants including government officials, business leaders, United Nations delegates, and academics, USCIB’s President and CEO, Peter Robinson stated: “USCIB has followed climate change for 20 plus years, and while the issues have evolved, become broader, been through ups and downs in the U.N. negotiations, it has remained a priority for member companies.  And en route to Paris, we see it evolving again, to include a strong element of corporate citizenship and social equity.”

Financing the Sustainable Development Goals

Last year, the United Nations agreed to an ambitious 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a grand vision for sustainability that will reshape the practice of development globally, as well as the private sector’s role in building a more prosperous, healthy world. USCIB is deeply engaged in all aspects of Agenda 2030, advocating for good governance and the rule of law, inclusive economic growth, investment in infrastructure, enabling environments to foster innovation, strong public-private partnerships and above all, an open channel for business input into policy negotiations and implementation at the international and national levels.

USCIB has played a central role in marshaling business input into the UN’s Financing for Development process, having worked actively with members and our global network to ensure that the private sector’s voice was heard at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development last July, where UN member states established a new financing framework to support sustainable development for the next 15 years – the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. The new financing framework is generally positive for business, with policies that include an emphasis on governance and domestic resource mobilization, support for blended finance and a move away from an overly-narrow focus on official development assistance. USCIB is also actively engaged in the first follow-up and review of this new framework Financing for Development conference, participating in several high-level events during the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development in New York, April 18-21. USCIB also raised and continues to monitor intellectual property and tax concerns as part of the financing for development process.

Business for 2030

In September 2015, USCIB officially launched its well-received Business for 2030 web portal, a catalog of business engagement that showcases the private sector’s contributions to the SDGs. Business for 2030 features over 140 initiatives from 35 companies in over 150 countries of how businesses are helping to achieve 72 of the 169 SDG targets. In addition to educating the business community about the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs, the website highlights concrete initiatives and public-private partnerships to inspire renewed trust in the private sector, and to catalyze sustained and active business engagement in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Through its blog and Twitter presence, the site also targets business perspectives to the UN community to sensitize them to business perspectives on SDG priorities and implementation.

USCIB Represents Business at Cool Earth Forum in Tokyo

USCIB attended the 2nd Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF2) on October 6-7 in Tokyo.  ICEF2, convened at the initiative of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, focused on promoting technological innovation as a means to address climate change. The two-day forum brought together 1,000 researchers, business representatives and policymakers from around the globe to present a broad range of innovative technologies, and discuss what innovative measures should be developed, how the innovation should be promoted, and how cooperation and public private partnership should be enhanced.

At High-Level Summit, Business Representatives Urge Ambitious Climate Pact

Private-sector representatives from around the world endorsed the conclusion of an ambitious and comprehensive worldwide agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience, while advancing energy access and security in the context of sustainable development.

During a December meeting at the headquarters of the French business federation. MEDEF, company executives and business federation officials from more than 20 countries agreed on a joint declaration stating: “Climate change is a common responsibility for all stakeholders, including for businesses in every part of the world, of every sector and every size, large groups and SMEs.”

United Nations Paris Climate Agreement (COP21) 

In December 2015, the United Nations concluded what was possibly the most important environmental meeting in history, when 194 countries agreed to a long-term climate treaty designed to curb global greenhouse gas emissions. The climate negotiations in Paris (COP21) saw unprecedented support and involvement from the business community, with USCIB and member companies on the ground at COP21 to demonstrate their commitment and stake in the accord.

Thanks to sustained advocacy from USCIB and other business organizations, the final climate agreement recognizes the need for enabling investment frameworks in global markets, as well as policies necessary to mobilize business innovation across all borders. Innovation, enabling frameworks for cost effective and scientifically sound policy design, and the need to work with business in partnerships are priorities for USCIB’s ongoing involvement in UN environmental work.

IOE Calls for Structural Reforms at DC B20 Gathering

Published on April 18, 2016

worker_femaleInternational Organization of Employers (IOE) President Daniel Funes delivered a strong message in Washington over the weekend at several meetings of the B20, whose deliberations followed those of the G20 Finance Ministers.

While the final communiqué issued by the finance minsters expressed concern over “modest global growth,” Funes went further, saying that persistent delay to structural reforms in G20 labor markets risked turning an already serious employment challenge into a “huge social crisis”.

“What we really need are structural reforms that create an enabling environment for companies, especially SMEs, to hire more easily.”

He expressed the disappointment of the B20 Employment Task Force that the G20 had yet to prove itself the engine of reform it had promised to be.  This, he said, was a direct result of G20 governments failing to implement their commitments at the national level, consistently falling short of tackling the “the core issues to make labor markets more flexible and dynamic”.

Giving his reaction to the new multi-annual work plan of the G20 Employment Working Group, to be adopted at the end of the month in Shanghai, he noted that language around structural reform was conspicuous by its absence: “What we really need are structural reforms that create an enabling environment for companies, especially SMEs, to hire more easily.”  Additional urgent reforms were needed to help job growth catch up with GDP growth, such as better aligning education and training systems to labor market needs. “Employment opportunities for young workers are not keeping pace with demand,” said Funes, “This is a major concern and could impact social stability.”

He concluded by saying that the IOE would continue to support the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in producing an annual scorecard, mapping the extent to which the G20 was delivering on its commitments and that the IOE, in collaboration with the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, would be paying particular attention to the level of ambition of G20 employment plans, as well as progress in their implementation.

Funes met with B20 leadership, spoke in the B20 plenary, and made an intervention in his capacity as co-chair at the B20 Employment Task Force session in a series of meetings on April 16 and 17.

Obama Appoints USCIB Members to National Cybersecurity Commission

Published on April 14, 2016

White_HouseGiven society’s increasing reliance on computer systems and information and communication technologies (ICTs), cybersecurity must lie at the heart of any national security strategy. To that end, President Obama announced today his appointees to the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, a new office established within the Department of Commerce to raise awareness about digital security in the United States.

“I have charged the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity with the critically-important task of identifying the steps that our nation must take to ensure our cybersecurity in an increasingly digital world,” President Obama said in a White House press release. “These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to this important role, and I look forward to receiving the Commission’s recommendations.”

Two USCIB members were appointed to the 12-member commission: Ajay Banga, CEO of Mastercard, and Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft Research. USCIB’s ICT Policy Committee has actively shaped the development of a model cybersecurity framework in the OECD, as well as an International Chamber of Commerce practical business guide to implement the OECD security guidelines. USCIB also contributes regularly to the U.S. government’s calls for public comments on cybsercurity challenges.

Talking Up Trade in an Election Year

Published on April 11, 2016

By Peter M. Robinson

The presidential candidates are distorting the facts about trade and jobs. We all need to push back.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson

To hear many of the contenders for the White House tell it, international trade is a dead end. There have been numerous memorable quotes from both sides of the aisle that I won’t dignify by repeating here. Nearly all the candidates say the Trans-Pacific Partnership needs to be scrapped or renegotiated.

Such rhetoric, coming from politicians who use it to convince people to vote for them, is extremely disturbing. Why? Because it is distorting the facts about trade and jobs! While the anti-trade diatribes coming from the campaign trail tap into a tangible belief among many disaffected voters that trade policy and the economy in general are rigged against them, they fly in the face of a recent Gallup poll that reports that Americans continue to believe—by a wide margin, 58 to 34 percent—that international trade presents an opportunity rather than a threat.

We in the business community have a responsibility to remind people – including our political leaders – of the facts, and cut through the hyperbole. We need to speak out to help our employees, our shareholders and the communities we operate in understand that the world is growing around us, and that we cannot – nor can other countries – afford to turn inward.

Page2_GallupThe fact is, expanded trade over the past two decades has boosted annual U.S. income by about ten percent of GDP – thousands of dollars per household – relative to what would have been otherwise. A study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics says the United States stands to be a big winner – the biggest winner – from the TPP, with income gains of some $130 billion by 2030. This growth is essential if we are to meet our goals in terms of new and better jobs, and an expanded middle class.

U.S. negotiators drove a hard bargain in the TPP talks, and – while no one, including the business community, got everything they wanted – we came away with an agreement that puts our most competitive industries, and the people they employ, in a good position for strong growth in the burgeoning Asia-Pacific marketplace. This is good news for American workers, since export-oriented companies pay, on average, 18 percent higher wages than their non-exporting counterparts.

It is also important to remember that trade liberalization serves an important geopolitical role, cementing U.S. leadership and a safer, more prosperous world – one where we can address common challenges like tackling climate change, fighting terrorism and lifting people out of poverty. In today’s world, everyone benefits when America leads.

We should take anxiety over trade seriously. But the gains from an agreement like TPP far outweigh the costs. And jobs lost to trade as a result of the agreement can and should be addressed via enhanced Trade Adjustment Assistance, something the business community has long supported. We also need to acknowledge that job dislocation is being spurred by technological advances and corresponding transformative disruptions.

An important priority will be connecting necessary skills development to the jobs of tomorrow. And as World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo has observed, increased trade, by boosting income and creating better jobs, can play an important role in raising skills and reducing inequality, both within countries and across borders.

Boosting investment for the future

To meet both the opportunities and the demands of the 21st-century economy, the United States needs a comprehensive approach to invest in enhanced competitiveness. Such an approach should encompass serious efforts to improve education and training, rebuild our infrastructure, reform the tax code and improve our regulatory environment.

We also need to invest in future agreements to open up markets for American goods and services. In this regard, it is extremely important to promote open and well-functioning investment policies and regimes. Private investment, in addition to traditional trade, will be a critical factor in the years to come.

At every opportunity, USCIB has sought to demonstrate the positive economic benefits of foreign direct investment – both inbound and outbound – for the American economy. A 2013 report by Professor Matthew Slaughter of Dartmouth, commissioned by USCIB and the Business Roundtable, demonstrated convincingly that U.S. companies who grew their overseas operations to access foreign markets exported more, and provided more and better jobs at home.

USCIB is working hard to address barriers to investment abroad, both in trade agreements like TPP and international organizations that design rules of the road for their member governments. Our members continue to face policy and regulatory barriers that inhibit entry into specific markets, and impede their ability to design, produce, market and distribute their products globally. Unlocking their ability to invest and compete abroad will be critical to American success in the 21st century, leading to sustainable enterprise and job creation.

In a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Professor Slaughter and Morton Kondracke, the former executive editor of Roll Call, posed the question: “Who will step up to tell the compelling trade story that America needs to hear?”

We, for one, will. And I hope that we can count on everyone in USCIB’s membership to join us and our partners in the broader pro-trade community, in Washington and around the world, to make the case for international trade, and for investing in the future of our country.

Business Welcomes Revised OECD e-Commerce Recommendation

Published on March 31, 2016

Smartphone_mobile_globeThe revision of the 1999 OECD Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce (1999), which was initiated in 2014, came to a conclusion with the adoption by the OECD Council on March 24 of a revised Recommendation.

The Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD welcomes the update which takes account of significant evolutions in the technical landscape as well as in consumer habits. From the onset, the BIAC Consumer Policy Task Force contributed actively to the works of the OECD Committee on Consumer Policy, pointing to the benefits of e-commerce and recommending a flexible approach rather than focusing on challenges.

The revised Recommendation will be discussed by ministers and high level experts during the consumer trust panel at the OECD Ministerial on the Digital Economy on June 22 in Cancun, Mexico.

Waiting a BIT for China

Published on March 31, 2016

Via Politico Pro Trade

Shaun Donnelly, USCIB vice president for investment and financial services, spoke to Politico about the prospects of a U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty as President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jingping are scheduled to meet this afternoon.

Against the backdrop of President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting this afternoon, the window is closing on China’s pledge that it would submit an updated market access offer in its investment talks with the U.S. in March. While an offer might have come overnight, Beijing had still not put forward an updated “negative list” offer for the bilateral investment treaty by late Wednesday.

“I understand that a comprehensive, high-standard U.S.-style negative list is a new and daunting proposition for a country like China, which has a long tradition of controlling investment, both domestic and foreign, quite tightly,” said Shaun Donnelly, vice president for investment and financial services at the U.S. Council for International Business.

But it would be disappointing if the two sides missed the opportunity of Xi’s visit to make progress on the talks, he said, even though the Nuclear Security Summit is largely focused on defense and security issues.

Read the full story

Brazil Ratifies Trade Facilitation Agreement

Published on March 30, 2016
Brazil ratifies WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (Credit WTO)
Brazil ratifies WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (Credit WTO)

Ratification of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, which is estimated to create 21 million jobs and increase global GDP by $1 trillion over the next decade, is a top priority for USCIB. On March 29, Brazil became the 72nd WTO member to ratify the TFA, an agreement that was forged under the leadership of Brazilian WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo, whom USCIB honored with its 2014 International Leadership Award.

In order for the TFA to enter into force, 108 WTO members must ratify the agreement. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed the Trade Facilitation Agreement during a high-level ceremony at the Palacio do Planalto in Brasilia with the attendance of Roberto Azevedo, who is visiting Brazil this week.

During his stay in the country, Roberto Azevedo will visit ICC Brazil – the ICC Brazilian Committee hosted by the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI) headquarters in Sao Paulo – and meet with CEOs from various sectors to analyze the potential benefits of the Agreement for Brazil.

Applauding this breakthrough development for trade facilitation, ICC Secretary General John Danilovich said: “Implementing the TFA gives Brazil, once one of the world’s fastest growing emerging market, an opportunity to reboot its economy by creating significant export diversification gains and reducing trade costs.”

Read the USCIB Customs Committee TFA one-pager.

Canada Sets Bad Precedent on Transatlantic Investment

Published on March 30, 2016

by Eva Hampl

In May 2009, the European Union launched negotiations with Canada for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). After five years of negotiations, they successfully concluded in August of 2014, and the Canada-EU summit in September 2014 officially marked the end of the negotiations of the agreement, which promises to remove over 99 percent of tariffs between the two economies. CETA is the first agreement where the EU has negotiated investment provisions drastically different from the long-established language found in European investment treaties, many akin to what is also provided in our U.S. Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). The EU has also been negotiating a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the U.S. since 2013. Negotiations on the investment chapter in TTIP resumed only recently, following an extended process and public debate in Europe on investment protection.

Today investment accounts, directly or indirectly, for a significant and growing percentage of cross-border commerce, encompassing vast global supply chains, and businesses rely on strong investment protections for legal certainty in many countries around the world. Accordingly, investment agreements and chapters continue to be of great importance.

Until a few years ago, the public in Europe had not paid much attention to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), however has now taken up this cause in an effort to negatively impact agreements such as CETA as well as the TTIP. The widely publicized public debate on ISDS in Europe has been very ideological and emotional in parts, resulting in a politicization of the issue, the response to which was a political solution: “improving” the world of international investment agreements (IIAs), by providing solutions to not quite clearly articulated problems. One such “solution” is the proposal of an international investment court, consisting of a roster of judges, as described in detail in the EU’s proposal for an investment chapter in the context of the TTIP negotiations.

Read the full post at Investment Policy Central

International Business Takes a Stand on International Investment Agreements

Published on March 30, 2016

by Shaun Donnelly

The Business and Industry Committee (BIAC) to the OECD in Paris recently issued a policy paper on “Why International Investment Agreements Matter”.  The paper was issued in connection with a March 14 OECD conference in Paris on International Investment Treaties.  BIAC is the formally-established business consultation network among the 34 OECD member nations. USCIB played a leading role with BIAC in the development of this investment policy paper. As USCIB’s vice president for investment and financial services, I was a panelist at the OECD Conference on Investment Treaties last week.

The BIAC policy paper lays out the importance of strong international investment agreements in promoting and protecting foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, which, in turn, are major drivers of economic growth, job creation and improved competitiveness.  FDI and investment agreements have recently come under increased political attacks from opponents of economic engagement in today’s and tomorrow’s globalized economy.  This BIAC document lays out a clear exposition of views of international business on the importance of FDI and strong investment agreements.

Read the full post at Investment Policy Central