Emergency Committee For American Trade

ECAT Welcomes U.S. Trade Negotiations with P-4

News Release

For Immediate Release

February 5, 2008

Contact: Bess Gulliver

202.659.5147

ECAT WELCOMES U.S. TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH P-4

High-Standard and Market-Opening Agreements with Four Key Trading Partners Would Boost U.S. Opportunities

Washington, D.C., February 5, 2008: Calman Cohen, President of the Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT), issued the following statement welcoming the announcement that the United States would formally join negotiations on investment and financial-services liberalization with the P-4:

“ECAT supports U.S. participation in the investment and financial-services negotiations with the P-4 – Chile, Singapore, New Zealand and Brunei – and urges all parties to conclude high-standard and investment-liberalizing agreements. Strong rules and access provisions on investment and financial services are particularly important to the United States, helping to expand the participation of some of the United States’ most competitive industries in foreign markets and, at the same time, growing the U.S. economy and opportunities here in the United States.

“With only four percent of the world’s population within our borders, it is vital for the United States to continue to open new markets around the world for U.S. farmers, manufacturers, service providers and their workers and to set strong rules protecting U.S. interests. While the United States already has strong and comprehensive bilateral agreements with Singapore and Chile, the P-4 market presents an important opportunity to continue to expand U.S. competitiveness in the Trans-Pacific arena.

“ECAT also welcomes the United States’ exploration of the broader P-4 Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement and how the United States could open out from its own comprehensive and high-standard agreements with Singapore and Chile to the other P-4 countries.

“ECAT looks forward to working with U.S. negotiators to ensure that strong protections and market-opening are achieved.”

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Founded in 1967, ECAT is an organization of the heads of leading U.S. international business enterprises representing all major sectors of the American economy. Their annual worldwide sales total over $2.5 trillion and they employ more than six million persons. ECAT’s purpose is to promote economic growth through the expansion of international trade and investment.