“Ambassador Kirk highlighted many issues of priority for the NFTC and our members. In particular, we are encouraged by the Administration’s efforts to implement the Colombia and Panama free trade agreements as soon as possible, just as it worked toward swift implementation of the Korea agreement,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. “We also welcome Ambassador Kirk’s remarks on the Administration’s push to terminate Russia’s Jackson-Vanik Amendment status and to establish permanent normal trade relations, conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and restore Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) this year. The NFTC has already drafted a bill on the latter, which we plan to offer for Congressional consideration.”
During his testimony before the committee, NFTC Chairman Alan Wolff highlighted the TPP as a model for structuring future global trade rules and as a platform for making progress on 21st century trade issues, including services and state-owned enterprises (SOE). Wolff also called for modernizing international trade rules governing cross-border data flows and emphasized the need to restore TPA. To follow is an excerpt from Wolff’s testimony:
“TPP is the world’s only live and exciting trade negotiation in which the United States is involved. One thing that I wish to convey is that those TPP participants that employ state-owned enterprises have an interest in disciplines being put into place on how these government enterprises compete in commercial markets. Participating countries in TPP should negotiate with full awareness that it is more than a vague possibility that some other country will have a larger SOE that will distort competition in a manner harmful to their interests. TPP is exciting and important because it has the real potential to set the future rules for trade in a way that I regret the WTO has not been able to continue at this time. I hope that TPP will become a good template for the new rules that ultimately govern global trade through the WTO.”
Click here to read his full testimony.
About the NFTC
Advancing Global Commerce for Nearly A Century- The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
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