The U.S. should remain ‘focused on leveling the playing fields,’ says Reinsch
Washington DC – Urging the Administration and Congress to seek changes in WTO rules that would eliminate current inequities, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and Administration officials, recommendations on legislative options for addressing the resolution of the WTO FSC-ETI dispute in a manner that brings the United States into compliance with its international trade obligations while maintaining the competitiveness of U.S. companies that engage in international trade.
“Our recommendation, which is supported by a broad array of America’s leading exporters, sets forth a unitary proposal that will preserve U.S. jobs, promote international competitiveness of U.S. corporations, and enable the U.S. to fulfill its WTO obligations,” said Bill Reinsch, President of the NFTC. “We stand ready to work with the Administration and the Congress, on a bipartisan basis, to find a solution that brings the U.S. into compliance with the WTO while ensuring a level playing field between U.S. exporters and their foreign competitors.”
While the NFTC has proposed changes to the U.S. Tax Code in a good-faith effort to bring the U.S. into compliance with the WTO’s decisions, the NFTC believes a better way to resolve the issue is through negotiations that would:
· Result in reaffirmation of the 1981 GATT Council Understanding that established ground rules on which ETI’s predecessor, the FSC, was enacted; and,
· Eliminate the imbalance in current WTO subsidy rules that favor tax systems which rely principally on indirect rather than direct taxes. Current WTO rules disadvantage U.S. workers, farmers, and businesses that are subject to a direct tax system while favoring European businesses that rebate indirect taxes.
“As an organization that represents companies keenly interested in the future progress of the trans-Atlantic trading system and, more broadly, the global trading system, the NFTC believes it is imperative that the Administration and Congress continue to seek changes in the WTO rules that would eliminate existing inequities,” said Reinsch.
