Trade and Investment Archives

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

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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

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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

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ICC website

USCIB Urges Active Trade and Investment Agenda

Published on March 8, 2011
President Obama and Korean President Lee Myung-bak at last fall’s G20 Summit in Seoul. A U.S.-Korea trade pact has been submitted to Congress.
President Obama and Korean President Lee Myung-bak at last fall’s G20 Summit in Seoul. A U.S.-Korea trade pact has been submitted to Congress.

Providing its views on the Obama administration’s trade policies and outlook, USCIB submitted written testimony to a February 9 hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee, calling on the administration to “pursue an active trade and investment agenda to open global markets.”

USCIB commended the administration for finalizing the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement, for pledging to double U.S. exports over five years, and for moving forward on the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations. It also said efforts to improve enforcement of existing trade agreements, especially through the World Trade Organization, had been helpful.

But much more could be done to open global markets for U.S. business, according to USCIB.  The testimony stated: “The key elements of a trade and investment agenda should include: completing the Free Trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama; concluding an ambitious Doha Agreement in the World Trade Organization; moving forward with the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to reach a high-standard trade framework; identifying new bilateral and multilateral trade initiatives with significant economic partners; addressing ongoing U.S.-Chinese trade and investment issues; accelerating work on investment treaties that will ensure protection of U.S. business investments in other countries; and aggressively promoting U.S. exports of clean technologies and environmentally-friendly goods and services.”

USCIB urged the administration to act “quickly and decisively” and to undertake new trade initiatives with leading trading partners in the near term.

On March 1, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk released the Obama administration’s trade agenda.  “This agenda reflects our commitment to a job-focused, comprehensive trade policy that benefits American businesses and workers as well,” he said.

This week Mr. Kirk said his office had finished preparing the Korea free trade agreement for submission to Congress.  He also stated that the Colombia and Panama FTAs will require “weeks or months” of additional work to finalize, and that the administration intends to press ahead and seek approval of just the Korea pact at this time.  Trade proponents on Capitol Hill and in the business community have urged that the Colombia and Panama pacts be quickly finalized so that Congress can consider the three FTAs at the same time.

Staff contact: Rob Mulligan

USCIB Testimony on the Administration’s Trade Agenda

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USCIB Pushes Back Against Efforts to Permit Capital Controls Under FTAs

Published on February 8, 2011

USCIB and other industry groups have written to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to argue against calls by some academics to change capital control rules in U.S. trade and investment agreements.  Presently, U.S. free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties generally preclude the imposition of capital controls, except in extraordinary circumstances.  But some have argued that broader use of such measures may be needed in light of the 2008 financial crisis.

In the letter, the business groups argued that U.S. investment treaties and trade agreements already permit governments to take necessary action, including capital controls, to ensure the safety and soundness of their financial systems.  “That flexibility is more than sufficient to allow countries to take necessary actions to deal with a financial crisis,” the letter stated.

“Moreover, the critics advocating these changes inaccurately characterize the United States as some sort of outlier in including these rules in their trade agreements and BITs.  In fact, most Western European, Canadian and Japanese investment treaties (which are far more numerous than U.S. agreements) have long included similar provisions requiring the free flow of capital.  Most of those agreements are not as flexible as U.S. trade agreements and BITs because they do not contain the prudential flexibility found in U.S. agreements.”

According to USCIB Vice President Stephen Canner, the industry letter is timely in light of next week’s upcoming round of talks under the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative.

Staff contact: Stephen Canner

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EU Audit Policy Proposals Stir Concern

Published on December 15, 2010

In a move that will have a broad impact on companies operating globally, the European Commission recently published a Green Paper on “Audit Policy: Lessons from the Crisis,” launching a consultation process which could lead to new European legislation on statutory audit and related matters in 2011-2012.  The Commission explicitly stated its intention to assume international leadership on these matters in the context of the G20.

The Commission’s proposals, if enacted into law, would affect not only European-based companies, but also U.S. companies with investments in Europe.  U.S. subsidiaries subject to statutory audit requirements in Europe would be directly affected, and US parent companies would be affected by the indirect impacts on the audit of consolidated financial statements.

The Green Paper is important because it suggests, among other things, audit policy changes and related actions that could:

  • Disenfranchise audit committees of the board and shareholders with respect to the appointment, oversight and remuneration of external auditors and the provision of non-audit services;
  • Impose new costs and increased audit complexity on companies by requiring mandatory rotation of audit firms and/or mandatory retendering of the audit on a fixed schedule;
  • Impose new corporate reporting, communication and audit requirements in areas such as social and environmental responsibility;
  • Expand communications between the auditor and the audit committee of the Board, as well as external stakeholders;
  • Address issues of competition and choice in the audit market; and
  • Substitute regulation for management and market-based decision-making.

This month, USCIB submitted comments on the Green Paper.  We have also addressed some of these issues through our work on corporate governance, capital markets and investment in BIAC and ICC.  While new legislation may be inevitable, it is important that business work at these early stages in the EU’s process to help assure that the outcome is cost-effective, protects shareholder rights, preserves audit quality, and does not unduly burden international companies.

Staff contacts: Justine Bareford-Badimon and Stephen Canner

USCIB comments on the EU Green Paper on Audit Policy

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Business Welcomes Progress on US-Korea Trade Agreement

Published on December 3, 2010

4033_image001New York, N.Y., December 3, 2010 – Today’s announcement of significant progress toward concluding a free-trade agreement between the United States and Korea was applauded by the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), which represents America’s top global companies and has long championed open markets.  It urged the United States to seize the momentum to move forward on other pressing trade initiatives.

“We are pleased that the U.S. and Korea are moving toward finalization of the Korea FTA,” stated USCIB Chairman Harold McGraw III (Chairman, President and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies).  “This commercially meaningful agreement will lead to growth and jobs in both countries.  The business community pledges to do its utmost to secure swift Congressional approval.”

Korea is already a key U.S. trading partner, and USCIB believes the FTA will solidify market access in this important and growing market for U.S. companies, providing a boost to employment at home and to U.S. competitiveness overall.

“We encourage the Obama administration to capitalize on this progress to further reinvigorate U.S. trade policy across the board,” stated USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson.  “For too long, we have waited on the sidelines while others have moved ahead.  We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Mr. Robinson also said business would strongly support ratification of pending FTAs with Colombia and Panama, as well as completion of the WTO’s Doha Round.  “Trade already supports 38 million jobs here in the United States,” he stated.  “But we can do better.  Indeed, to secure a lasting economic recovery, we must do better.”

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 the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Organization of Employers and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD, 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

Whither the Alien Tort Statute

Published on November 12, 2010

4020_image001USCIB Senior Advisor Timothy Deal participated in a panel discussion on November 10 organized by the DC Bar Association in Washington on “Whither the Alien Tort Statute?”

The ATS, adopted in 1789, gives federal courts civil jurisdiction over non-U.S. citizens for acts in violation of “the law of nations” or a U.S. treaty, such as piracy or attacks on ambassadors.  Since 1980, a number of suits brought by foreign plaintiffs against foreign governments and multinational corporations have stretched the interpretation of the statute and the meaning of “the law of nations” to include human rights abuses and anti-union violence, among other things.

The meeting followed a recent ruling by a U.S. Second Circuit panel in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum that the ATS gives U.S. courts jurisdictions over alleged violations of international law by individuals, but not by corporations.  Joining Mr. Deal on the panel were: John Bellinger, a partner at Arnold & Porter and the former State Department legal advisor; Terry Collingsworth, a partner at Conrad & Scherer; and Professor Ralph Steinhardt of the George Washington University Law Center.  Professor Edward Swaine, also from the GWU Law Center, moderated the discussion.

In his prepared remarks, Mr. Deal outlined continued U.S. business community concerns over the proliferation of ATS lawsuits, which principally target U.S. multinationals.  According to Mr. Deal, a major problem with the legislation is that global companies often “find themselves entangled in litigation brought by non-U.S. plaintiffs alleging wrongs committed outside the U.S., not by companies, but by the plaintiffs’ own government or agents of those governments, over which they have no control.”  He noted that ATS suits increase the risk, uncertainty, and cost of overseas operations and investments.  They can also “expose American companies to costly and protracted smear campaigns.”

While the panelists debated the pros and cons of ATS litigation from varying points of view, all agreed that the Second Circuit’s decision could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, given the importance of the issues addressed and differing views among lower courts throughout the nation about the appropriateness of ATS lawsuits against corporations.

To read Mr. Deal’s remarks in full, click here.

More on USCIB’s Corporate Responsibility Committee

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Our Man in Washington: Rob Mulligan

Published on October 7, 2010
Rob Mulligan
Rob Mulligan

We welcome Rob Mulligan, who served as the top international executive at TechAmerica,” as USCIB’s new Senior Vice President for Washington, succeeding Tim Deal, who has retired after 14 years of stellar service USCIB.

As head of our five-person Washington, D.C. office, Rob will coordinate representation of USCIB to the Executive Branch and Congress on a wide range of trade and investment issues of importance to the U.S. business community.  He will also oversee the organization’s participation in business lobbying and coalition-building efforts.

Rob comes to USCIB from TechAmerica (formerly the American Electronics Association), the largest U.S. high-tech trade association, where he served as Senior Vice President, International for six years.  He worked with member companies in devising strategies for addressing international trade, investment and regulatory issues affecting the high-tech industry, and he directed advocacy efforts through a team of experts in Washington, Brussels and Beijing.

“Rob Mulligan is an experienced ‘business diplomat,’” according to USCIB President and CEO Peter Robinson.  “In addition to his substantive knowledge in key business policy areas, Rob knows Washington, and has contacts with policymakers and government officials around the world.  His background in the corporate sector and in the trade association world gives him an appreciation of the needs of a member-driven organization like USCIB.”

Prior to TechAmerica, Rob served for seven years as Assistant Vice President, International External Affairs for The Chubb Corporation, a global commercial specialty insurer.  He developed and implemented the corporation’s international strategy for interacting with governments and business organizations worldwide on issues related to trade policy, insurance regulation and business development.

Among Rob’s earlier positions, he was executive director of the Central Europe Institute in Prague, and served with the U.S. Department of Commerce as an International Trade Specialist.  He has an MBA from the Solvay Business School at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, a J.D. from the Ohio State University College of Law, and a B.A. from Miami University.

Tim Deal, who will continue to advise USCIB on numerous matters, reflected upon retirement: “I had the privilege of collaborating closely with three outstanding USCIB presidents. The past few years under Pete Robinson’s leadership in what have been trying times, were especially rewarding.” USCIB members and friends hailed Tim and welcomed Rob at an October 12 reception in Washington.

More Member and Staff News – USCIB Chairman Harold McGraw III (Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer, The McGraw-Hill Companies) was recently elected to the ICC Executive Board, succeeding former USCIB Chairman William G. Parrett, retired CEO of Deloitte.   Mr. McGraw was also named by President Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations. … ICC has appointed Eve Magnant (Vice President and Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Publicis Group) and Brent Sanders (Associate General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation) to serve as Vice Chairs of ICC’s Commission on Marketing and Advertising. … Martina Bianchini (Vice President of EU Government Affairs & Public Policy, Dow Chemical Company) has been named to chair ICC’s new Task Force on Green Economy, part of the ICC Environment and Energy Commission.

USCIB is pleased to welcome Zaneta Butscher, an intern working with the Arbitration Committee.  Zaneta is a former litigation associate from the New York office of Baker & McKenzie LLP, where she worked on various aspects of complex commercial litigation and international arbitration. … Lynda K. Walker will be stepping down from her position as Vice President and International Tax Counsel with USCIB to become the Executive Director of the Tax Council and Tax Council Policy Institute.  We are actively searching for Lyn’s successor and wish her the best in a new and exciting position.

New Study Demonstrates Trades Positive Impact on US Jobs

Published on July 22, 2010

The Business Roundtable has released an update of a study from Trade Partnership Worldwide, LLC, entitled “Trade and American Jobs.”  Coupled with a recently revised study published by USCIB and the Roundtable on the positive net employment and other economic effects of outbound investment by U.S. firms, this newly revised report helps convincingly demonstrate how international economic engagement provides major benefits for the U.S. economy.

The BRT study’s major findings are:

  • U.S. trade continues to expand, and with it, domestic employment.  More than 38 million U.S. jobs depend on trade.  That means that more than one in every five jobs is linked to exports and/or imports of goods and services.
  • Service-sector jobs figure prominently among trade-dependent jobs in the United States.  In addition, contrary to popular belief, the net impact of trade on the overall number of U.S. manufacturing jobs is positive.
  • Trade-dependent jobs have grown at a faster pace than U.S. employment as a whole.

Click here to download the study.

Staff contact: Stephen Canner

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