Summary: ECAT Positions on the Issues
The following paragraphs provide a summary of ECAT's positions on the major trade, investment, and tax issues likely to be of greatest concern to ECAT member companies.
Section 2: Major Trade Negotiations
WTO Doha Development Agenda: ECAT strongly supports the Doha Development Agenda agreed to in November 2001. ECAT supports comprehensive negotiations on agriculture, services, industrial tariffs and other issues to expand market-access opportunities and reduce barriers across all sectors. ECAT also supports efforts to ensure that WTO provisions are developed and applied in a manner that eliminates barriers to and supports the growth of information technology goods and services. In particular, ECAT supports:
Free Trade Area of the Americas Negotiations: ECAT supports the timely completion of a comprehensive, high-standard and commercially-meaningful trade- and investment-liberalizing agreement to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005.
U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement Negotiations: ECAT supports the timely completion and implementation of a comprehensive, high-standard and commercially-meaningful U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement that will liberalize trade and investment.
U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Negotiations: ECAT supports the timely completion and implementation of a comprehensive, high-standard and commercially-meaningful U.S.-Morocco FTA that will liberalize trade and investment.
U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement Negotiations: ECAT supports the timely completion and implementation of a comprehensive, high-standard and commercially-meaningful U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement that will liberalize trade and investment.
U.S.-Southern African Free Trade Agreement Negotiations: ECAT supports the timely completion and implementation of a comprehensive, high-standard and commercially-meaningful free trade agreement between the United States and the Southern Africa Customs Union that will liberalize trade and investment.
Section 3: Major Trade Policy Issues
Building a Consensus on Trade and Investment: ECAT supports efforts by the Administration, Congress, and the private sector to rebuild the consensus on the importance of trade and investment liberalization.
Implementation of the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement: ECAT supports the timely implementation of the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement. It will create significant opportunities for U.S. companies, workers, farmers, consumers and their families through the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers in most major sectors. Many of the provisions in this agreement are state-of-the-art, model provisions that should be sought by the United States in future agreements. In other areas, including those related to certain sensitive U.S. import sectors and foreign investment rules, ECAT supports efforts to further develop agreed provisions to make them more trade facilitating in future agreements.
Implementation of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement: ECAT supports the timely implementation of the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. It will create significant opportunities for U.S. companies, workers, farmers, consumers and their families through the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers in most major sectors. Many of the provisions in this agreement are state-of-the-art, model provisions that should be sought by the United States in future agreements. In other areas, including those related to certain sensitive U.S. import sectors and foreign investment rules, ECAT supports efforts to further develop agreed provisions to make them more trade-facilitating in future agreements.
Steel 201 Tariffs: ECAT supports efforts to remedy the devastating effects that steel tariffs imposed pursuant to section 201 have had on steel-consuming manufacturers and to secure the early termination of these tariffs. ECAT supports H. Con. Res. 23 and efforts to ensure that the Administration considers the consumer effect of these tariffs, in addition to a serious review of the effect of these tariffs and other factors on the adjustment of the domestic industry and overall domestic economic growth. ECAT also urges the United States and other steel-producing nations to intensify their efforts in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to reduce excess global capacity and refrain from a dangerous protectionist spiral.
Trade Law Reform: It is vitally important that both U.S. unfair trade laws and Section 201 maintain - in both the legal provisions and their application - a careful balance between the interests of the petitioning industry and the interests of other U.S. industries and consumers. It is critical that the Congress and the Administration oppose any efforts to impose import restraints or amend U.S. antidumping, countervailing duty, or safeguards laws in ways that would invite foreign retaliation, encourage restrictive foreign mirror legislation, and/or violate the United States' international trade commitments.
Restructuring and Modernization of the U.S. Customs Service: ECAT looks forward to working with the Customs Service, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Treasury to help ensure that Customs' restructuring progresses in a manner that fulfills our national security and enforcement goals, while also facilitating the flow of legitimate commercial trade that provides enormous economic benefits to the United States. ECAT strongly supports full funding of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) from general revenues. The ongoing failure to modernize Customs' automated systems threatens to undermine U.S. productivity and competitiveness in the global marketplace and ECAT supports efforts to resolve these issues quickly. ECAT strongly supports the authorization of additional funding for Customs Service personnel and technology included in the Trade Act of 2002 and supports full appropriations of these funds. ECAT also strongly supports improvements in the operation of the Customs Service, including through full and improved implementation of the Customs Modernization Act and the Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978 in a manner that facilitates trade.
Reform of Trade Adjustment Assistance and Worker Retraining Programs: ECAT recognizes that while expanding U.S. international trade and investment raises the U.S. standard of living overall, dislocations occur and must be addressed through public and private worker retraining and assistance programs. ECAT supports efforts to implement the trade adjustment assistance provisions of the Trade Act of 2002 and to continue to review the effectiveness of these programs in addressing the needs of today's workers.
Addressing Concerns about Trade and Investment Liberalization: Continued global trade expansion is the bedrock of progress in achieving greater international observance of high labor and environmental standards and in promoting better access to food and health care. Progress on the human side of trade requires that the United States continue its leadership in the multilateral trading system promoting a strong set of WTO rules based on the right of member countries to set and enforce high environmental, labor, or other domestic standards. Before rushing to adopt trade-oriented solutions that may not be effective, it is critical that policymakers first work to define the United States' objectives in each of these areas, and then determine how those objectives can best be achieved. Many of these issues may be better addressed directly through separate agendas in organizations with technical expertise, rather than as add-ons to the trade agenda. And, in those cases where complementarity between U.S. trade and U.S. labor and/or U.S. environmental objectives exists, efforts should be made to address these objectives jointly and in a cooperative manner.
Section 4: Investment
U.S. Negotiating Position on Investment: ECAT believes that U.S. trade and international tax policies should recognize the vital importance of U.S. foreign direct investment to U.S. economic growth and should promote the expansion of U.S. trade and investment. ECAT supports, therefore, a strong U.S. negotiating position on investment that promotes investment for the benefit of U.S. companies, workers and their families and the U.S. economy. The United States should continue to push for the high standards that have been included in our bilateral investment treaties and NAFTA Chapter 11, including fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, and compensation for expropriation. The United States should also refrain from weakening existing agreements.
WTO Agreement on Investment: ECAT supports a continuing effort to build a consensus for an international agreement on investment that will provide a high standard of protection for investors which meets or exceeds protections currently provided under U.S. bilateral investment treaties.
Anti-Corruption Efforts: ECAT supports U.S. efforts to ensure that the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and the Inter-American Convention on Corruption are effectively implemented and to combat the problem of foreign corruption through other international efforts.
Section 5: The European Union
U.S.-EU Relations: ECAT supports efforts by the United States and the EU to strengthen their economic relationship, address ongoing trade disputes that have undermined the historically close U.S.-EU relationship, and move forward with mutually supportive trade initiatives in 2003.
Section 6: World Trade Organization
Implementation Issues: Full implementation of WTO agreements is the cornerstone of the multilateral trading system and must remain a top priority on the WTO agenda. The United States should continue to insist that all WTO Members implement the WTO Agreements in a timely and comprehensive manner. Technical assistance and assistance for capacity-building are important tools to help advance the United States' implementation goals. Developing country concerns regarding implementation should be addressed through increased technical assistance and not become the pretext for renegotiating existing WTO agreements. ECAT urges the Administration to oppose efforts to reopen the TRIPS, TRIMS, or other agreements or to delay full implementation of these agreements.
Institutional Reform: ECAT supports efforts to expand participation by WTO Members in the WTO process and to increase overall transparency in the WTO, as well as transparency in the dispute settlement process.
Accessions: ECAT supports the timely accession of Russia and other major countries to the World Trade Organization on terms comparable to that agreed to with China and other WTO members.
Committees and Working Groups: ECAT supports efforts to make the WTO more transparent and to conclude work on the rules of origin harmonization in a timely manner. On issues of labor and environment, ECAT believes that these issues are, for the most part, best addressed in alternative fora and through alternative policy approaches. In those cases, however, where there is complementarity between these issues and WTO objectives, efforts should be made to address these objectives jointly and in a cooperative manner, as is being considered in the context of negotiations on the interrelationship between WTO rules and multilateral environmental agreements.
Dispute Settlement: ECAT believes that the WTO dispute settlement mechanism has been effective in resolving many disputes, but has had difficulty in addressing a few highly political disputes, particularly those between the United States and EU. ECAT supports efforts by the United States and EU to address these issues quickly and in a trade-liberalizing manner.
Section 7: Sanctions Reform
Unilateral Sanctions: ECAT believes that sanctions that do not have multilateral support are generally ineffective and counterproductive. ECAT supports the deliberative and disciplined framework for consideration of unilateral sanctions set out in the sanctions process reform legislation. ECAT also supports further efforts to exempt agricultural, medical and other products from unilateral sanctions. ECAT supports efforts to terminate existing unilateral sanctions, particularly those with respect to Cuba.
Section 8: Export Promotion and Financing
Export Promotion: ECAT supports full funding for the Ex-Im Bank and OPIC, which help support the competitiveness of U.S. companies. ECAT also supports full funding for the Trade and Development Agency, which provides important project funding and trade technical assistance to developing countries in a manner that helps support U.S. exports. ECAT also supports full funding for the multilateral development banks and development funds, as well as efforts to use these organizations to address human capital issues, including health, labor and environmental matters.
Section 9: Export Controls
Export Controls: ECAT supports efforts to liberalize controls on encryption products and urges the Administration and Congress to repeal the 1998 National Defense Authorization Act requirements related to computers and the MTOPS methodology for imposing controls on high performance computers and give the President the flexibility to develop effective controls in this area, as he has in all other product categories. In the short term, the Administration should continue to expedite upward adjustments in the current MTOPS threshold in line with technological advances.
Section 10: Regional Trade Arrangements and Country-Specific Issues
Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act: ECAT supports U.S. efforts to promote greater economic reform and growth in the Caribbean Basin. In particular, ECAT supports full implementation of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act in a manner that will promote greater U.S. trade with the Caribbean Basin. ECAT remains concerned that the U.S. Customs Service is interpreting the CBTPA in a manner that is not consistent with the legislative intent of the Act. The U.S. Customs Service appears to be interpreting the Act in the narrowest sense, which is contrary to the intent of the Congress as expressed in the preamble to the legislation. ECAT supports efforts to improve the implementation of the CBTPA to ensure that beneficiaries of these provisions are not penalized for the use of U.S. components or required to release business confidential information. ECAT also supports continued efforts to expand the benefits provided by this legislation.
Andean Trade Partnership and Drug Eradication Act: ECAT supports full implementation of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act in a manner that fosters greater trade and investment between the United States and the Andean countries and supports greater economic growth and opportunities for the Andean countries.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum: ECAT supports the APEC forum as a vital part of expanding trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. ECAT supports ongoing efforts to achieve early voluntary sectoral liberalization and to reach an agreement with all WTO members on the eight sectors targeted for liberalization under the Accelerated Tariff Liberalization (ATL) initiative. ECAT also endorses the U.S. effort to reach an agreement to move forward with liberalization in other sectors, including food and automotive products. ECAT also strongly supports APEC's transparency and trade facilitation programs.
China's Implementation of its WTO Commitments: ECAT supports the full implementation of China's and other new WTO members' commitments. With respect to China, ECAT strongly supports full funding for the commercial, labor, legal system and civil society programs authorized by the U.S.-China Relations Act and for the efforts of the United States Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce and other parts of the U.S. government to monitor and work constructively to promote full implementation of China's WTO commitments.
African Growth and Opportunity Act: ECAT supports U.S. efforts to promote greater economic reform and growth in sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, ECAT supports the expansion of benefits under and the full implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act in a manner that will promote greater U.S. trade and investment with sub-Saharan Africa.
Section 11: Intellectual Property
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: ECAT supports the strong intellectual property commitments included in the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements and supports their full implementation later this year. ECAT also supports U.S. efforts to secure full implementation of the TRIPs Agreement by insisting on adherence to existing transition deadlines, opposing any moratorium on dispute settlement cases, and making aggressive use of WTO dispute settlement procedures to enforce the agreement. ECAT urges the Administration to make every effort to encourage additional countries to ratify and implement fully the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty and the WIPO internet treaties and to continue to promote strong intellectual property protection for digitized trade. ECAT supports efforts to combat piracy of optical-media products through effective enforcement and regulation, and to combat end-user software piracy, particularly by foreign governments.
Section 12: Taxation of Foreign Source Income
Foreign Source Income: ECAT supports efforts to resolve our longstanding dispute with the EU over U.S. taxation of foreign source income in a manner that promotes, and does not undermine, the competitiveness of U.S. companies. ECAT supports legislation, such as the provisions that had been included in the vetoed tax reform bill in 1999 and in more recent tax reform and simplification proposals that would make U.S. companies more competitive.
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