Policy Areas Archives

Poorest Countries Need a Level Playing Field, Business Tells UN Conference

Published on May 11, 2011

Attracting private investment that supports economic growth in the world’s least developed countries relies heavily on creating conducive environments, business representatives told heads of state, ministers, and business and civil society leaders participating in the Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, held May 9-13 in Istanbul.

The conference pinpointed actions and opportunities to help the 48 countries at the base of the global pyramid achieve more stable, prosperous and sustainable economies and communities. With over 500 business delegates, it provided an unprecedented opportunity to elevate the role of private-sector investment in the poorest nations and to mobilize business engagement toward development objectives.

Among the business delegates were Adam Greene, USCIB’s vice president for labor and corporate responsibility, and Louise Kantrow, the International Chamber of Commerce’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

Read more on ICC’s website.

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee

With U.S. Tax Reform Looming, Global Tax Experts to Meet in Washington

Published on May 10, 2011

OECD_2011

Washington, D.C., May 10, 2011 – With tax reform high on the agenda in Washington, what are the implications for multinational companies?  To help executives and policy makers keep up in this fast-moving area, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents American business on the global stage, will convene its fifth annual tax conference next month in Washington, D.C., focusing on the work of the 34-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

This 2011 OECD International Tax Conference, June 6-7 at the Four Seasons Hotel, will provide a unique opportunity for the U.S. business community to interact with key representatives from the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration, as well as senior tax officials from the U.S. and other OECD countries.

“As the volume, speed and complexity of international business continues to grow, global firms need clear, consistent and stable tax rules more than ever,” said Bill Sample, corporate vice president for worldwide taxation with Microsoft Corp. and chair of USCIB’s Taxation Committee.  “The OECD is the recognized leader in promoting a tax system to facilitate multinational business and dispute resolution. Business participation is critical to the OECD’s success, so we are encouraging companies from all industries to join us at the conference.”

Key questions to be addressed at the conference include: What are the latest international developments affecting permanent establishments?  What about transfer pricing and intangibles?  How are countries working together to improve tax compliance and cooperation?  With its membership growing, how is the OECD working with new members and non-members on tax policy matters?

Speakers at the event are scheduled to include

  • Jeffrey Owens, head of the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration
  • Thomas Barthold, chief of staff of the Joint Congressional Committee on Taxation
  • Manal Corwin, deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for international affairs
  • Masatsugu Asakawa of the Japanese finance ministry, incoming chair of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs
  • Mary Bennett, head of OECD’s tax treaty, transfer pricing, and financial transactions division
  • Steven Miller, deputy commissioner of the IRS for services and enforcement
  • Michelle Levac of Canada’s revenue agency, chair of the OECD Working Party Taxation of Multinational Enterprises.

“Informed, ongoing dialogue with the OECD secretariat and with OECD member states is crucial for global companies,” according to Carol Doran Klein, USCIB’s vice president and international tax counsel.  “The fact that this year’s conference takes place against the backdrop of potentially far-reaching tax reform in the United States only adds to its importance.”

Details on the conference are available at www.uscibtax.org.

The conference is co-organized by USCIB, the OECD and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD, which officially represents the view of industry in the Paris-based body.  Supporting organizations include the International Fiscal Association – USA Branch, the International Tax Policy Forum, the National Foreign Trade Council, the Organization for International Investment, the Tax Council Policy Institute, the Tax Executives Institute and the Tax Foundation.

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and prudent regulation.  Its members include top U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world.  With a unique global network encompassing leading international business organizations, including BIAC, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment.  More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, VP communications, USCIB
(212) 703-5043 or jhuneke@uscib.org.

Conference agenda, registration form and other information

More on USCIB’s Taxation Committee

OECD website

In Trans-Pacific Trade Talks, USCIB Seeks Neutral Forum for Dispute Settlement

Published on May 5, 2011

In the context of the multi-party Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks, American business is seeking to secure an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism in the agreement’s investment provisions.  USCIB and our partners in other business associations believe that a rules-based system for cross-border investment, backed by an investor-state dispute mechanism, provides the certainty that global business requires to lower risk and operate more efficiently in today’s global economy.

In April, the government of Australia issued a new trade policy blueprint statement that categorically rejects the inclusion of investor-state dispute settlement in any future trade agreement that Australia negotiates, notwithstanding its prior inclusion in Australia’s free trade agreements with Singapore, Thailand, Chile, and the ASEAN countries.

It appears that all parties to the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, with the exception of Australia, favor inclusion of investor-state mechanism.  Consequently, USCIB is seeking to work with the Australian business community to promote greater awareness of the benefits of such a mechanism for trade and investment across the trans-Pacific region.  USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson recently wrote to the head of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry urging support for an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism.

To read the USCIB brief on investor-state dispute settlement, click here.

USCIB Brief on Investor-State Dispute Settlement

More on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (U.S. Trade Representative’s office website)

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

Push by Business for Trade Adjustment Assistance

Published on May 4, 2011

As the Obama administration indicated its readiness to enter into substantive discussion with Congress with the goal of approving pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama, a coalition of business groups sent a letter (below) to President Obama and Congressional leaders in support of expanded trade adjustment assistance for workers dislocated by international trade as part of the package.

The letter states: “TAA is as vitally important today as it has been over the years.  It helps American businesses get into exporting and is designed to give displaced workers the new skills and resources they need to re-enter the 21st century job market.  Accordingly, in addition to moving on the pending trade agreements and trade preferences, we urge Congress and the Administration to find a way forward to ensure that the United States has in place an effective TAA program to support U.S. global economic engagement.”

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

Business Coalition Letter on Trade Adjustment Assistance

May 2, 2011

President Barack Obama
The White House

The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
U.S. Senate

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Minority Leader
U.S. Senate

The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker of the House
U.S. House of Representatives

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader
U.S. House of Representatives

Dear Mr. President and Congressional Leadership:

We are writing to urge you to support Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA).

The Trade and American Competitiveness Coalition brings together U.S. business and agriculture enterprises who support domestic and international policies that will enhance U.S. competitiveness to promote economic growth and new jobs and prosperity for America’s workers, farmers, consumers, communities and businesses.  The Coalition reaffirms American business’ long standing support for TAA as a central part of America’s overall trade agenda.

TAA is as vitally important today as it has been over the years.  It helps American businesses get into exporting and is designed to give displaced workers the new skills and resources they need to re-enter the 21st century job market.  Accordingly, in addition to moving on the pending trade agreements and trade preferences, we urge Congress and the Administration to find a way forward to ensure that the United States has in place an effective TAA program to support U.S. global economic engagement.

For almost fifty years, TAA has enjoyed bipartisan support as an essential part of American trade policy.  In 1962, President Kennedy recognized the link between increased trade and economic growth:  “Increased economic activity resulting from increased trade…can bring a dynamic new era of growth.”   He also recognized that a national policy to increase trade has costs as well as benefits, and that the country as a whole has a responsibility to share those costs:

“[American] workers who suffer damage from increased foreign import competition [should] be assisted in their efforts to adjust to that competition.  When consideration of national policy makes it desirable to avoid higher tariffs, those injured by that competition should not be required to bear the full brunt of the impact.  Rather, the burden of economic adjustment should be borne in part by the Federal Government.”

President Bush echoed this same position almost fifty years later when, in his last State of the Union Address in January 2008, he said:

“Trade brings better jobs and better choices and better prices.  Yet for some Americans, trade can mean losing a job, and the federal government has a responsibility to help.  I ask Congress to reauthorize and reform trade adjustment assistance, so we can help these displaced workers learn new skills and find new jobs.”

The Trade and American Competitiveness Coalition supports the work of the Administration and Congress to re-energize America’s trade policy.  In that effort, we urge the Administration and Congress to find a way forward to ensure that the United States has in place an effective TAA program, as part of America’s overall trade agenda, which should also include passage of the three pending trade agreements and renewal of the key trade preference programs for eligible countries.

Signed and supported by:

American Farm Bureau Federation ®

American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA)

Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM)

Business Roundtable (BRT)

Coalition of Service Industries (CSI)

Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.

Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT)

Fashion Accessories Shippers Association (FASA)

Information Technology Industry Council (ITI)

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)

National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC)

National Retail Federation

Tech America

TechNet

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)

Travel Goods Association (TGA)

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

U.S. Council for International Business

Business Groups Weigh in on Stalled Doha Round

Published on May 2, 2011

Following meetings in Geneva last week on the WTO Doha Round negotiations, USCIB and several other major U.S. business groups issued a statement (below) expressing our concern with the current state of the negotiations, affirming our continued support for the round and the efforts by the U.S. negotiators, and stressing the need for a change in the substantive direction of the talks to bridge the gaps in services, agriculture and manufactured goods.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

Business Groups Joint Statement on the Status of the Doha Round

Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011 – The organizations listed below released the following statement today on the lack of progress in the Doha Round:

“We deeply regret that the WTO Doha Development Agenda trade round has not yet been able to achieve its intended objective of promoting world economic growth by expanding trade.

Since 2001, the United States and the U.S. manufacturing, services, and agriculture communities have been steadfast in their support for the Doha Round and of efforts by U.S. and other negotiators to try to break the negotiating deadlock by offering constructive alternatives in each negotiating area. We continue to seek an outcome that would open markets around the world, produce new trade flows, grow our economies and sustain and create jobs. But an agreement will not be possible unless all major economies make meaningful contributions.

A trade round is about opening markets and setting the rules for world trade for decades so it must address the reality that all major developed and advanced developing WTO Members that have benefitted from past rounds enormously have a responsibility to the world trading system to undertake significant market opening measures.  It is clear that this is not happening.

We believe that what is currently on the table in Geneva lacks balance and ambition.  According to the participants in the negotiations, the gaps in services, agriculture and manufactured goods appear to be unbridgeable under current circumstances. Real change in the substantive direction of the negotiations is the way the Round will produce meaningful results, an objective we continue to strongly support.

We continue to maintain strong confidence in the WTO as an institution, its system of rules, and its role as a bulwark for open trade and against protectionism as proven by the recent financial crisis. We encourage the United States and all WTO Members to devote their energy to finding a productive, trade-expanding direction for the Doha Round and the multilateral trading system. We remain ready to contribute our ideas to such an effort.”

American Farm Bureau Federation

Business Roundtable

Coalition of Service Industries

Emergency Committee for American Trade

National Association of Manufacturers

National Foreign Trade Council

United States Chamber of Commerce

United States Council for International Business

Green Economies in Globalized Markets

Published on May 1, 2011

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USCIB invites you to join your peers for an intensely focused, academically rigorous 3-day Executive Education program developed specifically for USCIB by Boston University School of Management on “Green Economies in a Globalized Market.”

4125_image005Viewed from the global perspective of multinational corporations, the curriculum is designed to keep you on the cutting edge of trends, activities and strategies required to cope with the challenges you face in moving towards a green economy on a global scale.  Leading members of the Boston University School of Management faculty will guide you through everything from business strategy and sustainability goals to the impact on innovation and competitiveness.

Assuring maximum benefit for your time, the curriculum has been developed in partnership with USCIB to elevate your skills as a business executive as you delve into leading-edge thinking on sustainability through course work designed to sharpen your abilities. You will:

  • Understand how to achieve competitive advantage, balanced with sustainability goals.
  • Gain insight into the current trends and activities in international negotiations related to climate change.
  • Understand the implications of greening accounting and assigning green values to aspects of business and ecosystem services, and learn how that translates to the bottom line.
  • Analyze best practices from leading global companies.
  • Develop the ability to recognize trends and discuss new business model frameworks in the face of regulatory and market place disruption.
  • Understand the development of financial incentives and contract structures to drive customer acceptance and adoption.
  • Explore major types of risk and the risks specific to the green economy.
  • Discuss corporate risk management structure including risk identification, measurement and reporting, and main risk drivers.
  • Address the financial cost of not managing risks.
  • Understand competition in green ecosystems using insights from related sectors.
  • Evaluate how best to position your organization in emerging energy ecosystems.

Classes are small and space is limited, so we urge you to register today to make this strategic investment in your future. Register by July 27, 2011 to receive the early registration rate of $2,100.  Details on the curriculumare available on the Boston University website.  Group discounts are available – please call for details.

If you have questions or need additional information please feel free to contact The BU Executive Programs department at 617-353-4248, e-mail elc@management.bu.edu.

If you would like to talk with USCIB about the program and the value it holds for your organization, please feel free to contact Abby Shapiro at ashapiro@uscib.org or Norine Kennedy at nkennedy@uscib.org.

Thank you. We look forward to your participation this September!

Business Calls on G20 and OECD to Address Solicitation of Bribes

Published on April 28, 2011

“Fighting public officials’ solicitation of bribes must be a priority in order to combat corruption,” said Jean Monville, chair of the Task Force on Bribery and Corruption at BIAC, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, USCIB’s affiliate. “BIAC is committed to creation of a clean global business environment and the goals of the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan; this will necessitate deeper co-operation between business and governments.”

Speaking at a G20-OECD conference in Paris on “Joining Forces against Corruption: G20 Business and Government,” Mr. Monville emphasized the importance of looking at all aspects of corruption. “The OECD, with support of BIAC, has been leading the international fight against corruption by means of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. However, this landmark treaty has focused on the bribing of public foreign officials. Addressing solicitation would make the fight against corruption by governments and international organizations even more effective and relevant.”

Read more on BIAC’s website.

At the same conference, another USCIB affiliate, the International Chamber of Commerce, said its RESIST (Resisting Extortion and Solicitation in International Transactions) toolkit offers a practical solution to recent worldwide calls for concrete results following anti-corruption commitments.

RESIST is an ICC joint initiative developed in collaboration with Transparency International, the UN Global Compact and the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI).  Now also available in Spanish and French, the toolkit is designed to help companies train their employees to resist bribe solicitation.

Read more on ICC’s website.

Staff contact:  Eva Hampl

More on the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD

More on the International Chamber of Commerce

China Embraces Self-Regulation of Marketing

Published on April 14, 2011
USCIB’s Justine Badimon and Chris Martin (second and fourth from left) and Microsoft’s Brent Sanders, Marketing Committee Chair (fifth from left) with members of the China Advertising Association at a 2010 meeting to promote self-regulation.
USCIB’s Justine Badimon and Chris Martin (second and fourth from left) and Microsoft’s Brent Sanders, Marketing Committee Chair (fifth from left) with members of the China Advertising Association at a 2010 meeting to promote self-regulation.

For many years, while the state in China is the key purveyor of law and regulation, the Chinese private sector often works on its own to enforce norms and expectations of government. So it is quite interesting to note that China has embraced self-regulation in the marketing and advertising sector.

In April, as part of the first Global Advertising Week to be held in Beijing in the event’s 58-year history, the China Association of National Advertisers, the China Advertising Association and the China Advertising Association of Commerce jointly adopted the first set of ethical standards for the entire marketing industry in China.

The China Responsible Marketing Code was developed by the three ad industry associations in close consultation with the World Federation of Advertisers, and multinational and Chinese companies. The Code is built on the global advertising code from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), USCIB’s affiliate. The ICC code serves as baseline model for other countries, requiring that all marketing and advertising communications be legal, decent, honest and truthful. Brands must apply established principles of fair competition and recognize the special care required in marketing to children and young people. The Chinese Code also includes provisions for medical, health product, food, alcohol and cosmetics advertising.

“U.S. business strongly supports Chinese efforts to develop an advertising self-regulatory system,” said Brent Sanders, chair of USCIB’s Marketing & Advertising Committee and associate general counsel at Microsoft. “Building its code on global industry best practices set by ICC is a significant development in bringing the Chinese advertising market into greater coordination with the rest of the world. Furthermore, self-regulation enhances trust between businesses and customers, a vital concern for industry as Chinese consumer demand continues to grow.”

China is forecast to surpass Germany next year as the world’s third-largest advertising market.

USCIB actively contributes to promoting advertising and marketing self-regulation around the world. Currently, USCIB’s Marketing & Advertising Committee is in the final stages of helping to update the ICC’s most recent marketing code. Key new provisions include transparency and control principles around online behavioral advertising for the first time at the global level. Once approved, the ICC’s global standards can then be taken up by regional and national self-regulatory frameworks, as in the case of China and elsewhere.

“The new Chinese Code is not only an opportunity for industry to demonstrate its commitment to ethical marketing practice, it will assist industry to engage the Chinese government as it updates and revises its current advertising laws, a process that has been ongoing,” said Mr. Sanders. “All self-regulatory frameworks build on core laws and regulation.”

Stephan Loerke, WFA Managing Director, adds “I congratulate the Chinese marketing industry on this important step. In a successful consumer-led economy, trust in brand communications is critical. This code is a significant first step towards establishing effective advertising standards in China.”

Self-regulation in marketing and advertising, whether in China or elsewhere in the world, is less about government versus industry than about finding ways to ensure principled commerce. Building trust between consumers and business is clearly on China’s agenda, and that is a good thing.

Staff contact: Jonathan Huneke

More on USCIB’s Marketing and Advertising Committee

Doha Critical for Lifting International Trade Barriers

Published on April 6, 2011
Completion of the Doha Round will help to sustain a balanced economic growth across both poorer and rich countries.
Completion of the Doha Round will help to sustain a balanced economic growth across both poorer and rich countries.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), USCIB’s affiliate, strongly supports a call from the World Trade Organization (WTO) for a breakthrough in the Doha Round of talks in April if these crucial negotiations for lowering trade barriers are to be concluded this year.

ICC, following a recent statement by WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on an upcoming deadline for Doha talks, stresses that international trade is critical to restoring the health of the global economy.

Concluding the Doha Round after 10 years of deadlocked negotiations would strengthen confidence in the multilateral trading system, stimulate the global economy, create employment opportunities, and contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change.

“Achieving this is more crucial than ever in the context of a global downturn that came on the heels of the economic crisis,” said ICC Chairman Gerard Worms. “In the long run, bringing the Doha Round to a successful conclusion will create more jobs by improving the global economy.”

ICC has long held that failure to conclude the Doha Round will undermine the multilateral system built by the international community over the past 70 years. This system underpins the promise of peace and prosperity that lies within the reach of developing countries if trade barriers are brought down.

Completing the Doha Round would provide the world with a debt-free stimulus package, thereby helping to sustain balanced economic growth across both poorer and rich countries. If current proposals were put into effect, it is predicted that global GDP would grow by US$280 billion annually.

Not implementing Doha would let an ongoing tide of protectionist measures further thwart an opportunity for growth. Despite commitments from G20 countries to avoid new trade barriers, the threat of protectionism has become worse since the economic crisis.

Click here to read more on ICC’s website.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

More on USCIB’s Trade & Investment Committee

ICC website

USCIB Applauds Progress on Colombia Trade Agreement

Published on April 6, 2011

New York, N.Y., April 6, 2011 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents America’s top global companies, welcomed today’s announcement of major progress to finalize the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.  It urged swift consideration of the market-opening deal by Congress.

“We commend the Obama administration for making completion of this agreement a top priority,” stated USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson.  “From the business perspective, this agreement will level the playing field, since many Colombian products already enter the U.S. duty-free.  We also believe that the U.S. has a compelling foreign policy interest in supporting a democratic ally like Colombia through enhanced economic ties.”

Once the agreement is ratified, 80 percent of U.S. exports of consumer and industrial products to Colombia would become duty-free, with the remaining tariffs phased out over the next 10 years.  More than half of U.S. agriculture exports to Colombia would also become duty-free, with almost all tariffs eliminated within 15 years.

Mr. Robinson said he was gratified that the agreement’s labor provisions are based on the May 2007 bipartisan trade deal that incorporates the International Labor Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which was developed at the initiative of USCIB and the other business constituents of the ILO.

“Colombia has clearly demonstrated its willingness to work with the ILO to meet its international commitments,” he stated.  “We encourage the United States to support the role of the ILO to help its member states realize the principles of the ILO Declaration in their national laws.”

Mr. Robinson said USCIB strongly supports ratification of the Colombia, Korea and Panama FTAs, as well as completion of the WTO’s Doha Round and other market-opening initiatives.

About USCIB

USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and prudent regulation.  Its members include top U.S.-based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of our economy, with operations in every region of the world.  With a unique global network encompassing leading international business organizations, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment.  More information is available at www.uscib.org.

Contact:

Jonathan Huneke, USCIB

+1 212.703.5043 (office), +1 917.420.0039 (mobile), jhuneke@uscib.org

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee