Washington DC – The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) strongly applauds the leadership of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in crafting a version of the House-passed Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act, H.R. 3005, granting the President new Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). In approving new TPA legislation today, the Finance Committee has clearly demonstrated its longstanding bipartisan cooperation on trade.
“Under the leadership of Senators Baucus and Grassley, the Senate Finance Committee has brought us one step closer toward enactment of the most important trade legislation this year,” said Bill Reinsch, President of the National Foreign Trade Council. “The world is watching and waiting to see what kind of role the United States will play next year – we have to show them that we’re united and ready to assume a strong leadership role in the Doha Round, the FTAA and beyond.”
Furthermore, Reinsch said, “We are extremely pleased that the Senate Finance Committee bill sets forth an important negotiating objective on border tax adjustments to ensure that our trading system does not tilt the balance unfairly in favor of tax regimes that rely primarily for revenue on indirect taxes at the expense of regimes that rely primarily on direct taxes. This would ensure that the treatment of border adjustments in international trade is trade neutral, and would remedy the central issue at stake in the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) dispute in the WTO.”
“On balance, we are extremely pleased the Finance Committee moved forward so quickly following House action.,” Reinsch said. “The United States is on the cusp of restoring TPA this year. We urge the Senate to now get it past the goal line and pass TPA before going home. That would help put America in the strongest position possible when the new WTO Round gets fully underway in January.”
Contact: Eric Thomas
Emily Kelley
(202) 822-9491
