Category: Press Releases and Statements

Reinsch: “WTO Reform Misses the Point”

Posted on by dcadmin
Washington DC – Yesterday, in a guest blog post for America’s Trade Policy, titled “WTO Reform Misses the Point,” National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch wrote:

“The failure of the Doha Round and the hopefully temporary setback in implementing the Bali Trade Facilitation Agreement has once again raised questions about the World Trade Organization’s viability. Once we get past blaming India (correctly) for the most recent disaster, attention will inevitably turn to the question of whether the WTO is up to the task of reaching agreements on complex trade issues and, if not, how to ‘fix’ it.

“Focusing on institutional reform is an attractive road to go down politically. It allows governments to postpone, if not ignore, the real trade issues that divide them, and it allows them to place blame on the organization itself or, at worst, their predecessors who created it, rather than on themselves. Tempting though that is, however, it is ultimately self-defeating because it only postpones the day of reckoning when difficult trade issues will have to be dealt with. It is also a dead end.

“… So what is the alternative? If the institution truly has become unwieldy, then one or both of two things is likely to happen. One is that those who are making it unwieldy will over time learn how to work within the system more diplomatically – in effect, learn how to behave – and the problem will gradually go away as the system adjusts. The second is that work-arounds emerge.”

Click here to read the full blog post.

 
###


About the NFTC
NFTC is Celebrating our New Century in 2014! Details at www.nftc.org – 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.Follow us on:

NFTC Statement on Reported Collapse of WTO Talks

Posted on by dcadmin
Washington, DC– National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin released the following statement following reports that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has failed to advance the Trade Facilitation Agreement as mandated:

“Failure to advance the Trade Facilitation Agreement today would be a blow to the multilateral trading system.

“In the short term, we hope that the more than 150 members of the WTO who were committed to this outcome will seek to engineer a solution that permits this important agreement to move forward.

“More broadly, today’s developments suggest that there is little hope for truly global trade talks to take place. Businesses are multilateralists at heart, but they’re also pragmatic and will look to talks among smaller groups to achieve what now appears to be impossible among the entire membership of the World Trade Organization.

“The vast majority of countries who understand the importance of modernizing trade rules and keeping their promises need to pick up the pieces and figure out how to move forward in ways that avoid letting one country hold up shared progress.”

 
###


About the NFTC
NFTC is Celebrating our New Century in 2014! Details at www.nftc.org – 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.Follow us on:

NFTC Statement on Failure to Advance WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

Posted on by dcadmin

Washington, DC – NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin released the following statement in response to reports that negotiators in Geneva failed to advance the Trade Facilitation Agreement:

“Failure to advance the Trade Facilitation Agreement as promised would do lasting damage to the multilateral trading system.

“It is ironic that the very same countries who criticize exclusive trade negotiating groups, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Trade in Services Agreement, the loudest seem ready to ensure that those smaller groupings are the only viable paths forward for trade negotiators.

“While we hold out hope that the agreement will advance by unanimous consent prior to the July deadline set in Bali, we would urge negotiators of the overwhelming majority of countries who are committed to the Trade Facilitation Agreement and to improving economic development through the global trading system to engineer a path forward that salvages the credibility of the World Trade Organization.”

 

###

About the NFTC

 
NFTC is Celebrating our New Century in 2014! Details at www.nftc.org – 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.Follow us on:

 

 

 

U.S. Business Community Announces Formation of the Coalition for Green Trade

Posted on by dcadmin

Coalition founded to Support Environmental Goods Agreement Launch

July 9, 2014

Today the U.S. business community announced the formation of the Coalition for Green Trade, composed of a broad range of associations and companies doing business in the United States who seek to remove barriers to global trade in environmental technologies.

The purpose of the Coalition is to educate policymakers and the public on the importance of lowering trade barriers to environmental technologies, and to advocate for the timely negotiation of an ambitious Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Coalition is co-chaired by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), and the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), and composed of a steering committee that also includes the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Coalition of Service Industries, Emergency Committee for American Trade, Information Technology Industry Council, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Semiconductor Industry Association, Solar Energy Industries Association, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“It is critical that the EGA negotiations substantially broaden the list of 54 goods agreed upon by the APEC forum in 2012 in order to more accurately reflect the substantial breadth and significant growth in the green goods sector,” said Jessica Lemos, director of international trade policy at the NAM. “The NAM looks forward to working with our U.S. and foreign negotiators and businesses toward a strong result that will grow this sector, manufacturing and jobs.”
“EGA is important in its own right, and can also act as a stepping stone to lower tariffs in other sectors and value chains associated with environmental technologies,” said Eva Hampl, Director, Investment, Trade and Financial Services at USCIB. “A high-quality agreement would advance global innovation and be flexible to permit new entrants and commitments to keep pace with new technologies.”

The first round of EGA talks are scheduled to begin this week in Geneva. Representatives from NAM, NFTC and USCIB are leading a U.S. business delegation to participate in events and meetings on the sidelines of the official negotiations.

“Negotiators have an opportunity to produce a meaningful agreement that is good for economic development and for the environment,” said Jake Colvin, Vice President for Global Trade Issues at NFTC. “It’s also a chance to demonstrate that the WTO can be nimble, and can address emerging concerns of interest to global business and development communities.”

All of the steering committee members of the coalition joined business associations from around the world to release a global industry letter in support of the EGA initiative.

For more information contact:
Nicole L’Esperance, the Fratelli Group, for NFTC: nlesperance@fratelli.com or 202-822-9491
Jamie Hennigan, for NAM, at jhennigan@nam.org or 202.637.3090
Jonathan Hueneke, for USCIB: jhueneke@uscib.org, or 202-703-5043

In Geneva, NFTC Applauds Launch of Environmental Goods Agreement Talks

Posted on by dcadmin

In response to the announcement by 14 major trading partners of their intention to negotiate an agreement to eliminate tariffs on environmental technologies under the umbrella of the World Trade Organization, NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin — who is in Geneva for the launch along with other global businesses and associations — released the following statement:

“NFTC applauds today’s launch of talks towards an Environmental Goods Agreement. The green goods initiative is a chance to show how trade policies can address a pressing global challenge and improve environmental outcomes.

“While eliminating tariffs is often thought of as a concession in trade agreements, this initiative provides an opportunity to flip that thinking. Countries who join up and agree to cut tariffs will lower the cost of adopting green technologies.

“The EGA is also a chance to demonstrate that the World Trade Organization can serve as a nimble forum to negotiate new trade commitments that benefit business and the global good.

“NFTC commends the group of 14 negotiators for this announcement. We want to recognize President Obama and Ambassador Froman for their leadership in emphasizing the economic and environmental benefits of this initiative. We look forward to working with the U.S. Government and other economies to advance an ambitious agreement “

About the NFTC

 
NFTC is Celebrating our New Century in 2014! Details at www.nftc.org – 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.Follow us on:

 

 

 

NFTC Expresses Concern About Swedish Tax Proposal on Corporate Taxation

Posted on by dcadmin
Washington, DC – On Thursday, June 26, National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Bill Reinsch sent a letter to Swedish Minister for Finance Anders Borg and Minister for Enterprise Annie Lööf expressing concern about the proposal to introduce a new system for corporate taxation recommended by the Swedish Committee on Corporate Taxation.

In the letter, Reinsch wrote:

“We are writing to express our concern about the proposal to introduce a new system for corporate taxation recommended by the Swedish Committee on Corporate Taxation. As we understand it, the Committee’s proposal, which replaces the existing rules limiting the deduction of interest expense, consists of two parts:

  • Withdrawing the deduction for ‘financial costs’; and
  • Substituting this with a standard deduction for all financial costs – a ‘finance allowance’ – at a rate of 25 percent of net taxable profit.
“To finance these changes, the Committee proposes that the deductibility for existing losses from previous years is reduced to 50%.”

The “financial costs” changes will favor equity financing over debt financing to the detriment of companies that choose debt-based financing for its flexibility. The “financial allowance” would limit interest deductibility and penalize companies in cyclical industries that may be unable to deduct the true economic cost of an investment. The retrospective reduction in the net operating losses would result in the disallowance of existing losses and could have an adverse effect on company balance sheets.

Reinsch continued:

“Our members believe that if this proposal is enacted in its current form, it could have a very serious adverse effect on inward investment into Sweden, which for many years has been a favored investment location because of its stable tax regime.

“…We have sympathy with the aim of curbing the most aggressive tax practices in this area. However, these proposed measures to combat excessive interest deductions, and the 50% reduction of historical NOLs calls into question the predictability and stability of Swedish tax policy. Additionally, since such a system does not exist in any other country, the risk of international double taxation of Swedish companies will increase, and ultimately could make Sweden an ‘outsider’ among countries seeking active business investment. Furthermore, it is precisely this lack of coordinated action that the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (‘BEPS’) project is intended to prevent.

“We believe that these proposals should be withdrawn. We encourage you to consider other types of proposals that will not have such a detrimental impact on foreign investment into Sweden. Sweden has always in the past made an effort to provide an attractive investment environment.”

Click here to read the full letter.

 

About the NFTC
NFTC is Celebrating our New Century in 2014! Details at www.nftc.org -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.Follow us on:

 

 

 

NFTC VP Details Importance of Tax Treaties to U.S. Competitiveness in Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Posted on by dcadmin
Washington DC – National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) Vice President for Tax Policy Cathy Schultz today testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the ratification of the pending tax treaty protocol with Spain and the tax treaty with Poland.

In her testimony, Schultz stated:

“As global competition grows ever more intense, it is vital to the health of U.S. enterprises and to their continuing ability to contribute to the U.S. economy that they be free from excessive foreign taxes or double taxation and impediments to the flow of capital that can serve as barriers to full participation in the international marketplace. Foreign trade is fundamental to the economic growth of U.S. companies. Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers are outside of the United States. Tax treaties are a crucial component of the framework that is necessary to allow that growth and balanced competition.

“This is why the NFTC has long supported the expansion and strengthening of the U.S. tax treaty network and why we recommend ratification of the items before you today.

“… The Protocol and Tax Treaty improve conventions that have stimulated increased investment, greater transparency and a stronger economic relationship between our countries. The Spanish Protocol lowers the withholding rates for dividends, interest, and royalties. We are pleased that the Spanish Protocol provides for mandatory arbitration. The Polish Tax Treaty lowers the withholding rates for dividends, interest and royalties. The Polish Tax Treaty also includes a limitation on benefits (LOB) provision that will help stop treaty shopping through Poland.

“We thank the committee for its prior support of this evolution in U.S. tax treaty policy, and we strongly urge you to continue that support by approving the Tax Treaty and Protocol before you today.”

Click here to read Schultz’s full testimony.

###

 

About the NFTC
NFTC is Celebrating our New Century in 2014! Details at www.nftc.org -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.Follow us on: