USCIB Joined Multi-Association Letter Opposing Expansion of WTO TRIPS Waiver 

USCIB co-signed a multi-association letter to the Biden Administration at the end of February strongly opposing the proposed expansion of the WTO TRIPS waiver to cover COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. The letter was addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, USTR Katherine Tai, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients.  

The letter advanced the same arguments USCIB made in its submission last year to the U.S. International Trade Commission (Investigation No. 332-596) on the TRIPS waiver extension: the extension would undermine innovation, global health security as well as research and development for products that are fundamental to fighting global crises. USCIB was deeply disappointed with the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines announced at the WTO in June 2022. Extending the waiver to diagnostics and therapeutics would further erode international rule of law.

As such, USCIB welcomed the outcome at the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi last week to table this proposal.  

For nearly 30 years, the WTO TRIPS Agreement has served its role well in providing the global legal architecture for supporting and driving innovation,” said USCIB Senior Vice President for Trade, Investment and Digital Policy Alice Slayton Clark. “The waiver extension would have represented a virtual death knell not only for the pharmaceutical industry but also for innovative industry writ large.” 

 

The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference Falls Short But Delivers Some Wins for Industry

Renewal of e-commerce moratorium and intellectual property rights secured

New York, N.Y., March 04, 2024—The United States Council for International Business (USCIB) welcomes outcomes from the WTO 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi on two key objectives for U.S. industry: a two-year extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions and a rejection of efforts to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.

“If the moratorium had expired it would have been an historic setback, representing an unprecedented termination of a multilateral agreement that has allowed the digital economy to take root and grow over the past 25 years,” said President and CEO Whitney Baird who represented USCIB at the ministerial last week. “USCIB is similarly pleased that the WTO failed to extend a TRIPS waiver to diagnostics and therapeutics, a move that would have undermined innovative industries, global health security and international rule of law.”

Another positive outcome, according to Baird, 72 nations officially adopted the Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation, simplifying rules for over 90 percent of the world’s trade in services. USCIB joined the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), for which it serves as the U.S. national committee, in welcoming the move. The agreement text had been concluded in December 2021. USCIB also hails progress at the WTO mapping out linkages and exploring best practices in consultation with industry on trade related aspects of circularity, climate, plastics and other policies aimed at advancing sustainability goals.

The outcomes in Abu Dhabi were mixed, however. USCIB is disappointed that MC13 failed to deliver agreements on agriculture, dispute settlement and fisheries, adding uncertainty to a multilateral trading system already under intense strain. “USCIB looks forward to working with the WTO to deliver outcomes in these sectors favorable to U.S. industry,” said Baird. “As the cornerstone for open, fair and reliable global trade, the WTO is too important to industry to fail.”

USCIB was on the ground in Abu Dhabi with a strong showing of member companies and the ICC, promoting robust digital and innovation safeguards, U.S. leadership on disciplines for sustainable trade, and enhanced roles for plurilateral negotiations and stakeholder engagement at the WTO.

About USCIB
USCIB promotes open markets, competitiveness and innovation, sustainable development and corporate responsibility, supported by international engagement and regulatory coherence.  Its members include U.S. based global companies and professional services firms from every sector of the economy, with operations in every region of the world, generating $5 trillion in annual revenues and employing over 11 million workers worldwide. As the U.S. affiliate to several leading international business organizations, including the ICC, USCIB provides business views to policy makers and regulatory authorities worldwide and works to facilitate international trade and development. More at  www.uscib.org.

Baird Contributes to Business at OECD’s Consultation With OECD Leadership

USCIB President and CEO Whitney Baird

USCIB President and CEO Whitney Baird joined business leaders from Business at OECD’s (BIAC) expansive global network for BIAC’s Annual Consultation with OECD leadership and ambassadors in Paris. The theme for this year’s consultation was Charting the Course for Competitiveness, urging the OECD to reinforce the competitiveness of market-based democracies.

Baird served as a business speaker on a discussion around inspiring a better future globally.

“In an increasingly geopolitical setting, business looks to the OECD and member governments for meaningful cooperation, pragmatic diplomacy, and effective inclusive multilateralism,” she said.

Rick Johnston

BIAC Chair Rick Johnston (Citigroup), who also serves on the USCIB Board and chairs USCIB’s Trade and Investment Committee, led the delegation. Johnston also underscored BIAC priorities for OECD policymaking, stressing the need for the OECD to put a clearer spotlight on the cost and ease of doing business in its member countries.

According to BIAC, this strategic engagement at the outset of the year sets the tone for follow-up business advocacy with the OECD and its 38 Member States; BIAC is now preparing for the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in May, which will be chaired by Japan.

USCIB Meets with OECD to Share US Industry Accession Priorities 

USCIB organized a member briefing on February 14 with OECD officials to discuss the accession process and to share USCIB Members’ market access concerns regarding the five accession candidates: Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania. USCIB also shared with the OECD officials an updated business priorities document, detailing industry concerns for each of the accession candidates. 

Members learned that the candidacies of Croatia, Bulgaria, Peru and Romania are most advance as they consider the accession process a national priority. According to USCIB Senior Vice President for Trade, Investment and Digital Policy Alice Slayton Clark, Brazil is taking a more cautious position, setting up a working group on OECD matters to determine how to approach accession. Interestingly, the new administration of Javier Milei in Argentina seems committed to moving forward with adoption of a roadmap for accession after putting the invitation on pause for the past two years. Finally, Thailand has requested to accede, and the OECD announced this week it is opening accession talks with Indonesia, a process that will take many years.     

It was made clear during this meeting that OECD accession provides powerful leverage for adoption of reforms in candidate countries, an opportunity for industry to resolve market access concerns. It is imperative to act early in this regard and provide detailed input that can be incorporated into market openness reports used to measure candidate country readiness.  

One main area of concern raised during the discussion was candidate country positioning on the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, a question that will be considered at next week’s World Trade Organization (WTO) 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi. USCIB urged that all OECD members and accession candidates fully support the moratorium to be in alignment with OECD research, principles and best practices. 

Click here to download USCIB’s OECD Accession Priorities document. 

USCIB Adopts a Comprehensive Strategy to Renew the WTO E-Commerce Moratorium   

Ahead of the World Trade Organization (WTO) 13th Ministerial Council (MC13) next week, USCIB has been advocating extensively to extend the WTO moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions.  

Among these efforts, as reported by Inside US Trade, was a multi-association letter signed by USCIB President and CEO Whitney Baird, along with the presidents and CEOs of other associations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The letter was sent to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, National Security Council’s Jacob J. Sullivan and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard. 

USCIB also signed a Global Industry Statement urging the WTO to support the continuation of the Moratorium at MC13. The Statement, comprised of nearly 200 groups from more than 20 sectors in 130 countries, was covered by Politico. 

A few WTO members, such as India, Indonesia and South Africa, are threatening to block renewal of the moratorium for policy and political purposes. As such, USCIB joined several industry coalition letters to key government officials in these countries expressing concern about the potential collapse of this longstanding multilateral agreement and how it would negatively impact trade and investment in these economies.   

The letters argue that the moratorium is essential to the interests of millions of local enterprises and workers. The economic studies that analyze the potential impacts of customs duties show that countries hurt themselves by raising barriers and increasing costs for a wide variety of enterprises to access knowledge, information, data, and digital tools needed to compete in the global marketplace. 

For India, customs restrictions on the Internet are at odds with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of a $1 trillion “Digital India” economy. In fact, such restrictions could well cause India’s digital economy to shrink rather than grow given its large share of software development and global data processing activity. If India imposes customs duties on inbound data transfers – coupled with restrictions on outbound data transfers proposed under various other measures – India will isolate itself from the world. 

USCIB President and CEO Whitney Baird and USCIB Senior VP Alice Slayton Clark will be at MC13 in Abu Dhabi next week, where this topic will be a top priority. 

“Allowing the moratorium to expire would be a historic setback for the WTO, representing an unprecedented termination of a multilateral agreement in place nearly since the WTO’s inception – an agreement that has allowed the digital economy to take root and grow,” said Clark. “It risks destabilizing the very fabric of a multilateral trading system already under intense strain.” 

USCIB Contributes to TCC Stakeholder Session on Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling 

Lisa Schroeter (Dow)

USCIB was a key participant in the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council’s (TTC) Transatlantic Initiative for Sustainable Trade (TIST) stakeholder event held in Washington, DC on January 31.   

USCIB Senior Vice President for Trade, Investment and Digital Policy Alice Slayton Clark led a roundtable with the Transatlantic Business Initiative (TBI) on Advancing a Transatlantic Circular Economy: Facilitating Circularity in Electric Vehicles Batteries Towards Better Regulatory Harmonization. USCIB member Lisa Schroeter (Dow) was one of several USCIB Members serving as lead contributors to the circularity discussion.   

The battery roundtable was designed by USCIB and TBI to assist the United States and EU in identifying regulatory challenges and barriers to circularity in EV battery production.  The goal is to encourage better green policy cooperation to further integrate transatlantic value chains and facilitate trade and investment in these areas.  

Alice Slayton Clark (USCIB)

According to Clark, TTC stakeholder sessions are critical to advancing the voice of business, providing private sector insights and ingenuity key to durable policy solutions. USCIB is grateful to be able to engage our companies in open dialogue on policy issues under the umbrella of transatlantic sustainable trade.  

“USCIB appreciated the opportunity for our members to be involved in the TIST with respect to EV recycling,” said Clark. “USCIB advances trade and regulatory coherence and we hope our members’ input at today’s session will help inform policymakers in the U.S. and the EU to achieve a more integrated and resilient transatlantic green marketplace.” 

USCIB’s Clark Promoted to Senior Vice President

Alice Slayton Clark speaks at the OECD

USCIB Vice President for International Investment and Trade Policy Alice Slayton Clark has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Trade, Investment and Digital Policy. Clark will be working closely with USCIB Senior Vice President for Policy and Global Strategy Norine Kennedy, as well as the rest of senior staff.

Clark joined USCIB in 2021 bringing her considerable experience in trade policy to USCIB’s policy team in Washington DC. Prior to joining USCIB, Clark worked for international law firms and consulting practices, as well as on Capitol Hill.

“Alice has shown herself to be both a DC-savvy policy expert and an excellent international advocate for U.S. business in international trade and investment deliberations during her time at USCIB.  I’m thrilled to share responsibility for leading USCIB’s policy work with her,” said Kennedy.

Baird and Wanner Focus on Trade and Tech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 

USCIB President and CEO Whitney Baird and VP for ICT Policy Barbara Wanner attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month. Dubbed the “most powerful tech event in the world,” CES brought together over 130,000 participants, including many USCIB members and representatives of governments from across the globe.  

Whitney Baird (USCIB) and Tanneasha Gordon (Deloitte)

Baird and Wanner had a packed schedule in Las Vegas meeting members and USG officials, including Tanneasha Gordon (Deloitte), Nadia Hansen (Salesforce), Dr. Oliver Campbell (Dell), JoAnn Stonier (Mastercard), Erica McCann (Amazon) and Dr. Vanessa Chan (Department of Energy). They also attended panels and events on AI and the impact on jobs, emerging technologies shaping the tech workforce, privacy and cybersecurity, and sustainability and circularity in tech.  

During a panel on “Trade in Tech. What is it good for? Absolutely Everything!” Baird joined Ambassador Mark Lippert (Samsung), Ambassador Susan Schwab (NFTC) and Dr. Rafaelita Aldaba (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) to discuss how trade policy promote peace and innovation globally.  

“Trade has long demonstrated its benefit in lifting nations out of poverty, promoting shared prosperity, fostering economic interdependence and trust, and providing an incentive for peaceful resolution of disputes,” said Baird. “Technology has a similar unifying effect, through the devices, gadgets and transmissions that inform people and connect cultures and countries around the globe. Trade in technology, therefore, carries a double dividend on peace.” 

Baird also discussed USCIB’s affiliation with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), made possible through Business at OECD (BIAC). She noted USCIB regularly contributes U.S. industry practices and priorities to inform OECD research and policy guidelines. Through its own standing and through our affiliates, USCIB advocates strongly for WTO rules that promote connectivity, the free flow of data with trust across borders, and a permanent moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. USCIB has also pressed for negotiation of two World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreements to eliminate all import duties on a wide range of technology products including computers, telecommunications equipment, software and educational devices.   

The “Trade in Tech” session was moderated by Ed Brzytwa (International Trade Consumer Technology Association).  

“This was the first time USCIB attended CES in an official capacity,” said Wanner. “We were delighted by the many opportunities we had for enhanced engagement with U.S. government officials and our own members on topics of significant relevance to our trade and digital policy work. We look forward to more CES events in the future.” 

Trade and Investment

Trends and Challenges Facing U.S. Business:

  • Open markets for trade and investment have contributed to macroeconomic stability, global prosperity and job growth in the United States and around the world. This truth is being eclipsed today by protectionist pressures and policies built on the false premise that market liberalization must be paused in order to advance social and environmental goals.
  • The U.S. must reclaim its leadership role in engaging partners on a clean and just economy while opening markets and leveling the playing field for U.S. goods, services, agriculture, digital, and investment.

USCIB’s Response:

  • Press for the resumption of U.S. leadership, including in global fora like the OECD and WTO, to advance U.S. business interests and confront discriminatory action against U.S. goods and services, unfair foreign trade practices, and denial of market access. Read about USCIB’s Advocacy Campaign on the OECD accession process.
  • Advocate for more trade and regional diversification to help businesses cushion shocks and sustain domestic operations while expanding economic opportunity for allies to join global production networks.
  • Caution against calls to onshore or localize production and urge close collaboration with industry to develop policies that minimize unintentional economic harm while advancing national or economic security interests.
  • Promote U.S. resolve in enforcing obligations under trade agreements like USMCA and in upholding commitments under WTO agreements, including the Agreements on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).
  • Urge the return to long held U.S. positions in support of strong digital trade rules and progress on advancing 21st century standards for the full range of services trade.
  • Discourage counterproductive measures that undercut our international commitments or could lead to retaliatory measures that hurt U.S. companies and workers.
  • Maximize foreign direct investment and defend the provisions of international investment agreements that safeguard U.S. foreign investments and help investors obtain fair treatment without compromising legitimate regulation.
  • Encourage a truly inclusive consultation process that considers business views equally among stakeholders, to advance on-the-ground, pragmatic and innovative practices that safeguard our national economic interests.

Magnifying Your Voice with USCIB:

  • USCIB is the only U.S. business association formally affiliated with the world’s three largest business organizations where we work with business leaders across the globe to extend our reach to influence policymakers in key international markets to American business
  • We build consensus with like-minded industry peers and participate in off-the-record briefings with policymakers both home and abroad.

USCIB on LinkedIn

Positions and Statements

USCIB Joins Industry in Statement Supporting Digital Trade in Africa (8/2/2023) - USCIB joined 11 other industry associations to urge negotiators to develop comprehensive and in-depth pan-African digital trade commitments for the…
USCIB Files Submission With FTC on Non-Compete Clauses in Employment Contracts (5/3/2023) - USCIB filed a submission with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) April 19, opposing its proposed rule to ban employers from…

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News Stories

USCIB Joined Multi-Association Letter Opposing Expansion of WTO TRIPS Waiver  (3/6/2024) - USCIB co-signed a multi-association letter to the Biden Administration at the end of February strongly opposing the proposed expansion of…
The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference Falls Short But Delivers Some Wins for Industry (3/5/2024) - Renewal of e-commerce moratorium and intellectual property rights secured New York, N.Y., March 04, 2024—The United States Council for International…

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Press Releases

The 13th WTO Ministerial Conference Falls Short But Delivers Some Wins for Industry (3/5/2024) - Renewal of e-commerce moratorium and intellectual property rights secured New York, N.Y., March 04, 2024—The United States Council for International…
USCIB Issues an ATA Carnet Advisory for the United Kingdom (3/14/2023) - New York, N.Y., March 14, 2023 – The United States Council for International Business (USCIB), the national guaranteeing and issuing…

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Op-Eds and Speeches

US Funding of the OECD is Critical to US Global Economic Policy Influence (11/2/2023) - by Whitney Baird, USCIB President & CEO  As Congress debates on whether to maintain the current levels of funding for the…
Donnelly Co-Authors Op-Ed in The Hill on Commercial Diplomacy (2/3/2021) - USCIB Senior Advisor Shaun Donnelly and his longtime State Department colleague Ambassador (ret.) Tony Wayne recently co-wrote an op-ed in…

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Chair

Charles R. (Rick) Johnston
Managing Director, Global Government Affairs
Citigroup Inc.

Staff

Alice Slayton Clark
Senior Vice President for Trade, Investment, and Digital Policy
asclark@uscib.org

Ashley Harrington
Policy and Program Assistant, Washington
aharrington@uscib.org

 

 

USCIB Meets With OECD to Offer Business Perspectives for OECD’s US Economic Survey

Representatives from the U.S. desk of the OECD’s Economics Department met with USCIB members and staff on January 8 to solicit business input into the next OECD United States Economic Survey. The OECD typically conducts these economic reviews every two years to assess the macroeconomic and structural policy challenges facing economies and offer recommendations.

A robust group of USCIB members participated in the meeting including Rick Johnston (Citi), Jerry Cook (Hanesbrands), Carolina Costa (RELX), Elizabeth Tate (Albright Stonebridge Group) and Cristian Rodriguez-Chiffelle (Boston Consulting Group). They discussed early findings from the OECD analysts that the United States will be experiencing a soft landing with weak economic growth expected in 2024, with GDP project at 1.5 percent, unemployment over 4 percent and abatement of inflationary pressures and wage growth. This led to a conversation about business outlooks on U.S. industrial policies (e.g. CHIPS Act), China trade policy and the impact of tariffs, U.S. retreat from economic globalization, economic security and reduced business voice in economic policy debates.

“As always, USCIB greatly appreciates the opportunity to meet with representatives from the OECD,” said Senior VP for Policy and Global Strategy Norine Kennedy. “As the sole U.S. representative to Business at OECD (BIAC), USCIB is in a unique position to offer invaluable U.S. business perspectives. We are committed to this important analysis and work of the OECD in providing well-informed recommendations to the U.S. government.”

OECD Surveys aim to promote a better understanding of a given country’s economic situation, identify the key challenges facing that country’s authorities and provide recommendations to improve the country’s overall economic performance.