“We congratulate Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Chris Wilson and the entire USTR negotiating team for working together with other members of the WTO Working Party for Russia’s accession to achieve today’s outcome,” said NFTC President Bill Reinsch. “We applaud their commitment to and success in negotiating a high-quality package outlining the terms of Russia’s accession to the WTO.”
The accession package approved today includes the Russia-Georgia agreement, an enforceable commitment for Russia to join the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) upon its accession and a commitment to enforceable treatment of intellectual property rights under the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. The package also includes U.S.-negotiated access for high quality beef, a commitment to bring Russian auto assembly into compliance by July 1, 2018, and an extensive commitment on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, among other provisions.
“The package serves as a rules-based framework modeled after the bilateral U.S.-Russia WTO bilateral market access agreement,” said NFTC Vice President Dan O’Flaherty. “We urge Congress to exempt Russia from the Jackson-Vanik amendment as soon as possible to ensure that U.S. exporters can compete on equal footing with Asian and European companies, agricultural producers and service providers in this increasingly competitive market.”
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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