Trade and Investment Archives

USCIB Cheers Senate Passage of Trade Promotion Authority

Published on June 25, 2015

capitol_scaffolding_loresNew York, N.Y., June 24, 2015 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) hailed the passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) by the U.S. Senate today, as the bill cleared its final legislative hurdle before heading to the president’s desk. TPA will allow the United States to negotiate high-standard trade deals with its partners in Asia and the European Union.

“We thank the Senate for moving TPA forward and urge the president to sign this bill into law as soon as possible,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “The passage of TPA marks a renewed U.S. commitment to trade expansion, especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as it will pave the way for market-opening deals that remove barriers to our exports while bringing benefits to American workers and consumers.”

Robinson thanked the TPA bill’s supporters. “This was a difficult vote for many members of Congress, and we applaud the courage and steadfastness of TPA supporters,” he said. “The business community is extremely appreciative of all the hard work that went into this legislation.” He also thanked the Obama Administration, especially U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, for its work with Congress in getting TPA passed.

Robinson also encouraged Congress to finalize Trade Adjustment Assistance, a bill that provides aid to American workers who have been displaced by trade, and Customs Reauthorization, which will help streamline customs procedures while securing America’s borders.

“We urge Congress and the Administration to move expeditiously on all these elements of the U.S. trade agenda,” Robinson said. “The business community is united behind TPA and we intend to keep the momentum going until it and other trade bills become law.”

USCIB is a founding member of the Trade Benefits America Coalition, an organization of American business associations dedicated to building support for the U.S. trade agenda.

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. With a unique global network, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043, jhuneke@uscib.org

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

In CNBC Interview, USCIB’s Donnelly Assesses Prospects for U.S.-China Investment Treaty

Published on June 24, 2015

Shaun_CNBCIn an interview on CNBC, USCIB Vice President Shaun Donnelly talked about the U.S. business community’s perspective on the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue taking place this week. He noted that U.S. business is looking forward to a bilateral investment treaty between both countries, and he discussed cyber security and government procurement.

Watch the interview.

OECD Report: TFA Could Significantly Reduce Costs of Global Trade

Published on June 19, 2015

4556_image001Implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) could reduce worldwide trade costs by anywhere from 12.5% to 17.5%, according to the updated 2015 OECD Trade Facilitation Indicators (TFIs). The OECD TFIs are designed to inform governments on potential measures to improve border procedures, reduce trade costs, boost trade flows and reap greater benefits from international trade. The Indicators identify areas for action and enable the potential impact of reforms to be assessed after implementation.

The TFA creates a significant opportunity to improve the speed and efficiency of border procedures, thereby reducing trade costs and enhancing participation in the global value chains that characterize international trade. The 2015 OECD TFIs find that countries which implement the TFA in full will reduce their trade costs by between 1.4 and 3.9 percentage points more than those that do only the minimum that the TFA requires. The opportunities for the biggest reductions in trade costs are greatest for low and lower middle income countries.

The 2015 OECD TFIs cover 152 countries across different geographical regions and levels of development. Using cost estimates from the updated ESCAP-World Bank Trade Costs Dataset, they provide the most current assessment of the potential impact of implementing the measures included in the TFA. They also allow countries to identify their strengths and weaknesses in trade facilitation, prioritize areas for action and mobilize technical assistance and capacity building in a more targeted way.

The OECD TFIs measure the actual extent to which countries have introduced and implemented trade facilitation measures in absolute terms, but also their performance relative to others, using a series of quantitative measures on key areas of the border process.

Read the OECD’s full policy assessment.

USCIB Represents Business Views in “E15” Investment Policy Group

Published on June 18, 2015
Shaun Donnelly (center)
Shaun Donnelly (center)

With opinions on foreign investment, including such issues as investor-state dispute resolution, sometimes sharply divided, finding common ground is important. USCIB Vice President Shaun Donnelly was one of only three business representatives at last week’s meeting of the Investment Policy Experts group under the overall “E15” (E for Experts) initiative of 18 different subject-matter groups convened in Geneva throughout 2015 under the auspices of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD).

Each of the experts groups, including Donnelly’s , is debating possible policy options which the WEGF and ISCTD will package for further discussion around the WTO Ministerial in Nairobi in December and at the WEF’s annual Davos gathering in January. Other leading American experts, including from USCIB member firms, are active on other issue groups.

The range of views is vast among experts within the investment group. Donnelly and his colleagues from academia, think tanks and international organizations are struggling with issues from investment agreements and dispute settlement to how investment can drive sustainable development. After intense two-day sessions in March and last week in early June, the Investment group remains divided on specific policy initiatives.  So Donnelly and his colleagues will have more tough work over the course of this year.

BIAC and B20 Turkey Call for Strengthening the Financing of SMEs in Global Value Chains

Published on June 18, 2015

SMEs“For SMEs to benefit more fully from global value chains, urgent actions are needed to improve the coordination of financial regulations, strengthen access to financing and skills, and maximize the sharing of information through digital platforms,” said Bernhard Welschke, BIAC secretary general, commenting today on the release of a BIAC-B20 Turkey special publication.

Faced with the slowest post-crisis global investment recovery since the early 1970s, there is a pressing need to unlock growth, investment and jobs. However, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – which account for the majority of employment and over half of value-added in OECD countries – have struggled to access the financing they require to participate in and across world markets as banks have deleveraged to meet new regulatory requirements.

Conscious of the financing challenge, BIAC and B20 Turkey have released a publication halfway through the Turkish G20 Presidency entitled “Business Access to Global Value Chains and Financing SMEs.” Bringing together chapters written by prominent thinkers in government, academia, finance, and business, the publication seeks to pave the way for actions to support SMEs, in contribution to the G20 ahead of the Leaders’ Summit in November 2015.

“This BIAC-B20 Turkey publication underlines that SMEs can be best supported if all relevant actors in markets – public and private alike – undertake coordinated actions that support businesses in global value chains,” commented Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, B20 Turkey Chair. “Connecting the various B20 and G20 activities is central to this effort.”

Considering the outcomes from a BIAC-B20 Turkey conference held on June 4, 2015 at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, the final chapter of the publication presents three overarching recommendations to G20 Leaders:

  1. Focus on coordination, consultation and impact assessment
  2. Raise SME access to finance and skills through an integrated approach
  3. Maximize the sharing of information through digital platforms

“We encourage G20 Sherpas to use this publication as a key point of reference in preparing the G20 Leaders’ Summit Communiqué,” added Hisarcıklıoğlu.

Read the report.

USCIB Applauds House Adoption of Trade Promotion Authority

Published on June 18, 2015

New York, N.Y., June 18, 2015 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) welcomed the House of Representatives’ passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation today, and urged the Senate to move quickly to ensure final passage, which is necessary for U.S. trade negotiators to complete crucial talks with Pacific-rim nations.

“We commend TPA supporters for sticking by this important legislation despite aggressive attacks from trade opponents,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson. “House passage takes us a step closer to getting back in the game of writing 21st-century trade rules that benefit our workers, farmers, businesses and consumers.”

Robinson continued: “As we have already seen, slowing down TPA only damages our position in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. We urge the Senate to act swiftly to get the final bill to the President’s desk.”

USCIB is a founding member of the Trade Benefits America Coalition, an organization of American business organizations dedicated to building support for the U.S. trade agenda.

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. With a unique global network, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide, and works to facilitate international trade and investment. More at www.uscib.org.

Contact:
Jonathan Huneke, USCIB
+1 212.703.5043, jhuneke@uscib.org

More on USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee

Letter in New York Times on Trade and Climate

Published on June 16, 2015
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson at a press conference in Lima, Peru on December 8. “If a global agreement on climate change doesn’t work for and with businesses, it just won’t work,” he said.
USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson at a press conference in Lima, Peru on December 8. “If a global agreement on climate change doesn’t work for and with businesses, it just won’t work,” he said.

USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson has a letter in today’s issue of The New York Times on climate change and trade policy. The letter is reproduced below, and you can view it on The Times’ website by clicking here.

Robinson rebuts a recent piece by Times columnist Eduardo Porter that suggested border taxes on products from countries outside a so-called “climate club,” saying that countries should instead offer trade incentives, rather than punitive tariffs, to reduce carbon emissions and spur the deployment and use of greener energy technologies.

This letter is especially timely, as it comes after the most recent negotiating session of the UN climate change talks in Bonn, where USCIB played an important role in voicing private-sector views. Click here to read our report. It also comes as we gear up for next week’s climate-focused meeting of USCIB’s Environment Committee and the North American Business Climate Consultation, held in conjunction with the International Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Finally, USCIB continues to advance American business interests in the WTO’s Environmental Goods Agreement talks as well as other key trade negotiations, even as we grapple with the current trade deadlock on Capitol Hill.

—

The New York Times

June 15, 2015

The Opinion Pages/Letters

Climate Change and Trade Policy

To the Editor:

Eduardo Porter advocates launching a trade war as a way of ”solving” the climate challenge (”Climate Deal Badly Needs a Big Stick,” Economic Scene column, June 3), imposing tariffs on those countries that don’t join a ”climate club” committed to reducing carbon emissions.

But we should offer carrots instead of sticks to accelerate the transition to greener energy. Rather than threatening higher-emitting countries with punitive tariffs, we should roll back barriers to trade in environmental goods and services.

There is no contradiction between economic development and climate protection. Indeed, as countries grow richer, they can devote additional resources to cleaner energy.

To be viable, climate solutions must factor in real-world needs, including the need for economic growth, and deliver benefits today to people in both rich and poor countries.

And they need to be in line with political and market realities, including the global community’s common interest in keeping markets open and economic relations cordial.

The ”big stick” that Mr. Porter endorses fails to meet these criteria.

PETER M. ROBINSON
President and Chief Executive
United States Council for International Business
New York

OECD Ministerial: Unlocking Investment for Sustainable Growth and Jobs

Published on June 3, 2015

oecd_forumBusiness welcomes the focus of this year’s OECD Ministerial meeting, which takes place under the overarching theme of Unlocking investment for Sustainable Growth and Jobs. Industry calls upon the OECD to speak up and convince countries of the need to remove the most persistent barriers to markets and put in place pro-investment policies.

Rob Mulligan, USCIB’s senior vice president for policy and government affairs, is in Paris representing USCIB members at and around the Ministerial and at the OECD’s annual Forum earlier in the week. USCIB represents U.S. business at the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD, which released a policy statement and recommendations ahead of the Ministerial on investment issues.

“A predictable policy framework and an effective cross-government approach are fundamental for investment,” said USCIB Trade and Investment Committee Chairman Rick Johnston at a ministerial panel discussion on Investment, Innovation and Business Climate. “This is recognized by the newly updated OECD Policy Framework for Investment. Fostering both domestic and foreign investment should be governments’ primary objective”.

The OECD Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) provides an important checklist across a range of different policy areas to assist governments in creating an enabling investment environment. BIAC has been an active partner in the update of the PFI and calls for sustained efforts to ensure its implementation, notably as part of the post-2015 development agenda. BIAC strongly believes that policies that foster innovation and investment opportunities will also be key for the transition to a low-carbon economy.

BIAC also called for strengthening global value chains and financing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “Actions are urgently needed to step-up SME financing and enable companies to participate in global value chains”, said Phil O’Reilly, BIAC’s chairman, speaking on June 4 at a BIAC-B20 Turkey special event.

BIAC’s five recommendations on Unlocking Investment for Sustainable Growth and Jobs are laid down in a 2015 Statement to the OECD MCM.

From Drift To Deals: New Report Charts Way Forward on World Trade

Published on June 2, 2015

Peterson%20Report_sourceThe International Chamber of Commerce launched a new report prepared by the Peterson Institute on the margins of the OECD Forum in Paris. “From Drift to Deals: Advancing the WTO Agenda, sets out a roadmap for a “grand bargain” to bring the long-stalled Doha Round of trade talks to a conclusion and restore the centrality of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a forum for trade liberalization.”

“An immediate priority for all WTO members must be concluding the remaining aspects of the Doha Round,” said ICC Secretary General John Danilovich. “We call on governments to accelerate the ongoing negotiations aimed at paving the way for a political agreement at the WTO’s next ministerial conference in December.”

The report outlines a work program to carry out a “grand bargain,” whereby developed countries would make concessions on agriculture market access and developing countries would agree that subsets of WTO members can enter into plurilateral agreements within the WTO framework. The report also reviews nine trade realms that await liberalization and it offers recommendations for agreements on several topics at or around the WTO including the Trade Facilitation Agreement, a Services plurilateral agreement, and an expanded Information and Communications Technology agreement or “ITA II.”

Download a copy of the report.

 

USCIB Extols Importance of Investor-State Rules

Published on May 28, 2015
Shaun Donnelly (center) at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs
Shaun Donnelly (center) at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs

USCIB’s Shaun Donnelly, vice president for investment and financial services, took the U.S. trade agenda to Spain last week, advocating for the benefits of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and debunking myths about Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

Donnelly spoke with business and university groups about the U.S.-EU trade deal and especially about ISDS, which remains controversial in Europe, at the invitation of the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the Consulate General in Barcelona. He gave the keynote at an all-day conference on May 27 on “TTIP Negotiations: Caught Between Myth and Reality” hosted by leading Spanish think tank CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs).

On May 28, Donnelly traveled to Madrid where he spoke at the U.S.-Spain Council‎, the IE Business School, the Foundation for Research in Law and Business, and at a young entrepreneurs association. He also did a radio interview for the U.S. Embassy’s website.

Donnelly, a retired State Department economic officer, former ambassador, and former USTR trade negotiator, has done five TTIP and ISDS public-speaking tours around Europe for the State Department and U.S. embassies over the last 18 months.

Also last week, the European Union Parliament’s trade committee backed a resolution in support of TTIP, including a provision on ISDS.