With President Trump set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, bilateral commercial relations are high on the agenda. Against this backdrop, Shaun Donnelly, USCIB’s vice president for investment and financial services, wrote a blog post “Don’t Give Up on a Gold Standard US-China BIT!” in Investment Policy Central. Donnelly argues that abandoning a decade-long effort to negotiate a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with China would be a “serious mistake” for U.S. interests. The agreement, if done right, would be a “win-win” for both countries, with the U.S. gaining plenty from a good, comprehensive and high-standard agreement.
“A strong BIT, is in America’s broad interest, good for American companies, workers, investors, states and communities and for American values. The U.S. wins when Chinese companies invest in the U.S., hire American workers, pay American taxes, and follow American standards and rules. And we also win when great American companies can invest successfully in China, pulling U.S. exports and brands, and business practices into fast-growing markets,” wrote Donnelly.
To achieve a comprehensive agreement, Donnelly argues that the Trump administration should consult key stakeholders in business, labor and civil society, as well as take the time to carefully assess best options and pros and cons.
Donnelly has over 30 years’ experience with the U.S. Department of State in a wide range of roles including: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs; U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka; Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Trade; Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia; and a detail as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East.
During the months of February and March, 2017, USCIB Staff hosted a conference with BIAC/OECD on Digital Transformation, discussed Brexit with Alexander Lau of the UK government and Chris Southworth of ICC UK, arranged a member briefing with Doug Frantz, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, and Bernhard Welschke, Secretary General of Business at OECD (BIAC), presented at the OECD Investment Committee meetings in Paris, participated in the ICC Trade Committee meetings in London, provided comments on NTIA’s Internet of Things Green Paper, addressed customs issues at the APEC SOM 1 meetings in Vietnam, shared member views at the OECD Meetings on VAT in Paris, and much more. Below are summaries of these and other highlights from the activities of USCIB in Washington, D.C. over the last two months. If you have any questions or comments, or want more information on a specific topic, please contact any of the staff members listed at the end of this brief.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) held a meeting in Paris on Corporate Governance on March 28, which featured a special roundtable on flexibility and proportionality of corporate governance. Business at OECD (BIAC) attended the meeting and expressed strong support for the effective implementation of the G20/OECD Corporate Governance Principles. USCIB member Dan Konigsburg, managing director, corporate governance and public policy, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu attended these meetings.
USCIB’s Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, Rob Mulligan, represented USCIB at International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) meetings with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the British government on March 23 in London. The meeting was organized by ICC’s Trade and Investment Commission and focused on a wide range of global trade issues. Ian Ascough, deputy director, multilateral trade, Department for International Trade, United Kingdom briefed ICC members on how the Brexit process will impact UK trade work. He stressed their desire for a free trade agreement with the EU, no border in Ireland, and to be champions of free trade globally. Ascough also noted that they will seek to secure a UK schedule in the WTO and build up their capability in the WTO. In discussing the implications of Brexit, Mulligan also raised business concerns related to trade, noting that “companies need sufficient transition times coming out of Brexit to address any changes related to customs, value chains, and regulatory requirements.”
New York, N.Y., March 21, 2017 – Kazakhstan is set to become the 77th member country to accept ATA Carnets for the temporary, duty-free importation of various types of goods, beginning April 1, according to the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which administers the ATA system in the United States.
USCIB experts on trade and customs Rob Mulligan, senior vice president of policy and government affairs, and Megan Giblin, customs and trade facilitation director, were recently quoted in a Journal of Commerce article, “Trump administration unlikely to repudiate new WTO pact.” The article explores the state of bilateral and multinational trade agreements, such as the recent entry into force of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
USCIB’s Vice President for Investment and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly was leading the business voices at multiple events around the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Investment Week in Paris last week. Donnelly was the lead business speaker at the panel on “Is Investment Liberalization Shifting into Reverse?” at the OECD Global Forum on International Investment and the lead business respondent to presentations by academic experts on “Societal Benefits and Costs of Investment Treaties” at the OECD’s Third Annual Conference on Investment Treaties.