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1 Trade Matters Alert April 1, 2011 Vol. 12 No 13 NFTC News NFTC Deplores Impasse in the Doha Round Negotiations In light of recent developments in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) on Monday released the following statement: While the World Trade Organization (WTO) performed a major service for the global economy by preventing backsliding during the deepest economic recession in modern times, attempts to further expand trade have been stalled for nearly a decade. Last week, several key delegations, particularly from emerging economic powers, dug in even deeper in positions that will prevent the conclusion of a deal. The Doha Round was initiated shortly after 9/11, amid hope that new trade flows could further stimulate worldwide economic growth. Economic summits of heads of state have since that time repeatedly called for making this giant multilateral trade negotiation a success. At the beginning of this year there was a new sense of optimism among negotiators in Geneva. That sense of sense of optimism is now quickly fading away. Unless there is personal engagement from heads of state in capitals around the world, it is unlikely that the Round will progress toward the successful and ambitious conclusion the U.S. business community advocates and which would kick-start the global economy. After nearly a decade of talks, it is past time for world leaders to get personally involved and work together to deliver the political will to reach a strong positive result on the tough issues that are stalling the negotiations. If political leaders cannot make progress towards an agreement, alternative approaches to trade liberalization outside of the WTO are likely to accelerate, which have the potential to weaken the multilateral trading system. A continued impasse would also call into question the viability of the Doha Round as it currently stands. Next Tax Lunch Forum Scheduled for April 13, 2011 The next NFTC Tax Luncheon Forum to discuss current international tax issues will be held on Wednesday, April 13 at noon ET, at the NFTC offices, 1625 K Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC. We are very pleased to announce that Henry Louie, International Economist, Office of International Tax Analysis in the Office of Tax Policy, U.S. Treasury Department, has agreed to speak to us about current tax treaty issues. Please join us for this informative discussion and come prepared for a lively dialogue. For those attending the meeting, lunch will be provided. Please complete the attached response form to attend or participate in the conference call and return it by Friday, April 8th Click here to register: April 1, NFTC Trade Matters Vol. 12 No. 13

2 Save the Date World Trade Dinner and Award Ceremony, Wednesday, October 5, 2011 The National Foreign Trade Council Foundation s Annual World Trade Dinner and Award Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, October 5, The dinner is a black tie event and the venue is the elegant and historic Organization of American States, 17th Street & Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Please save the date and plan to attend! The World Trade Dinner is a popular event for senior corporate and public officials and foreign dignitaries; a night featuring a formal address by our keynote speaker, presentation of our annual world trade award, and, of course, much socializing. Our 2010 speaker was Dave Camp, who is now Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee. Past speakers have included such respected figures as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer; United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Susan Schwab; Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan; UN-Ambassador John Negroponte, as well as several Heads of State. We will be announcing the 2011 dinner speaker later this summer. Company sponsorship opportunities for the dinner are still available, as are a limited number of individual reservations. Contact the NFTC at or nftcinformation@nftc.org for details. Hill Updates Members of Congress Press for Extension of Andean Trade Preferences, Highlight Economic Impact of Lapsed ATPDEA on U.S. Businesses In a letter to House Ways and Means Committee leaders yesterday, Members of Congress highlighted the economic impact the lapse of Andean Trade Promotion Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) will have on the U.S. textile industry, and urged them to renew the preferences immediately. The uncertainty of whether the ATPDEA will be renewed is negatively affecting apparel manufacturers in Colombia and consequently hurting yarn producers who stand to permanently lose important customers. The expiration of the trade preferences could also cost U.S. cotton farmers an important Latin American market. Every entity in the U.S. apparel supply chain is in favor of extending ATPDEA from bale to retail. We strongly encourage the Ways and Means Committee to agree to an extension of the ATPDEA preference program and seek Congressional approval without delay. We want to reassure our constituents that their jobs in the textile industry are secure and here to stay A vote to extend ATPDEA is a vote to support American textile jobs. Click here to read the full letter. News from the Administration Ambassador Punke Releases Statement on the Doha Negotiations On Tuesday, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke, U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, released a statement on the state of the Doha Round negotiations. In his statement, Ambassador Punke laid out specific areas of concern from the perspective of the United States to be addressed in order to move forward with negotiations. To read Ambassador Punke s statement, visit: April 1, NFTC Trade Matters Vol. 12 No. 13

3 Secretary Locke Takes New Markets, New Jobs Export Tour to Los Angeles U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke traveled to Los Angeles, Calif., on Tuesday for the second stop of the New Markets, New Jobs small business outreach tour. Joined by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and USC Marshall School of Business Dean James G. Ellis, Locke discussed the importance of exports to America s economic recovery and job creation, and the resources that the government is providing to connect local small- and medium-sized businesses with foreign buyers, especially those from the Asia-Pacific markets, in order to help them sell more overseas and hire more at home. For more information, visit: Commerce Finds Dumping and Subsidization of Aluminum Extrusions from China On Tuesday, the Department of Commerce announced its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of aluminum extrusions from the People s Republic of China. The International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently scheduled to issue its final injury determinations on or before May 12, If the ITC makes affirmative final determinations that imports of aluminum extrusions from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will issue AD and CVD orders. For background information on the investigation, visit: U.S. Commerce Department Opens Recruitment for U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum Following President Obama s trip to Brazil, the U.S. Commerce Department has opened the recruitment period for U.S. companies to apply for private sector membership in the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum. Secretary Gary Locke co-chaired the sixth meeting of the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum, where U.S. and Brazilian business leaders discussed concrete recommendations to improve trade between the two countries. The Forum, made up of 20 CEOs from the United States and Brazil, meets twice a year to make recommendations to the two governments on ways to strengthen the U.S.-Brazil economic relationship. The U.S. CEOs serve two-year terms, and are selected from respondents to a joint Commerce-White House Federal Register notice for applicants to the U.S. section of the Forum. For more information on participating in the Forum, visit: Foreign Commercial Service News Click here for the most recent TradeAlert report from the U.S. Department of Commerce s International Trade Administration. Other News ProgressiveEconomy Trade Fact of the Week April 1, NFTC Trade Matters Vol. 12 No. 13

4 ProgressiveEconomy Director Ed Gresser relaunched his Trade Fact series this week, which aims to promote policies that are pro-growth and pro-jobs, pro-poor and pro-shopper, and pro-security. NFTC is proud to partner with ProgressiveEconomy to include the Trade Fact of the Week each week in our Trade Matters . This week s Fact looks at export growth in 2010, speculating on whether the big boom in exports represents a real shift in American growth patterns toward exporting, or if it was more a natural bounceback after the steep export drop in To view this week s Trade Fact of the Week, visit: zgnogiv5rac3gzbt_d1gg%3d%3d New Zealand Embassy to Host Dinner for the ChristChurch Earthquake Recovery The New Zealand Embassy is hosting a reception and black tie dinner for the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery and to celebrate the launch of American Friends of Christchurch on April 14, The dinner will be held at the Embassy: 37 Observatory Circle, NW Washington, DC For more information about sponsorship details for the dinner, please contact Tais Howland at Tais.Howland@mfat.govt.nz, or visit In Case You Missed It Colombia Willing To Strengthen Labor Rules In U.S. Trade Pact, Santos Says Bloomberg March 31, 2011 Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the government is willing to take steps to expand labor protections, an action the Obama administration has requested before sending a free-trade agreement to Congress. We have no problem signing or committing ourselves to defending the workers rights, because we believe in that, Santos said today in an interview at the presidential palace in Bogota. They have submitted a list of things they would like to see happen in Colombia, and when I saw that list, that list is exactly what we want also. Latin America s Gaze Increasingly Turns East Inter Press Service March 30, 2011 On the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama's trip to Latin America, Washington's traditional role as "regional hegemon" is being reevaluated as its attention focuses on the Arab Spring and an emerging commercial competitor - China - focuses on the U.S.'s backyard These connections, they claim, not only threaten U.S. regional influence and interests, but also its national security. Others, meanwhile, are sceptical of the idea that China's current military aims in Latin America put its northern neighbour in direct peril. "The way I see that is getting to know each other," argued Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the U.S.-based Council of the Americas, referring to Sino-Latin military relations. "One has to watch it, I suppose, but we don't have to go crazy" in our speculations, he added. In Farnsworth's view, Chinese April 1, NFTC Trade Matters Vol. 12 No. 13

5 pronouncements and actions in the region have suggested a relationship built on commerce, not political or strategic engagement. Business Groups Say Doha Round Hopes Fading Reuters March 28, 2011 Chances for a deal this year in long-running world trade talks are fading and likely will remain remote unless world leaders become personally involved, an influential U.S. business group said on Monday. "At the beginning of this year there was a new sense of optimism among negotiators in Geneva. That sense of optimism is now quickly fading away," the National Foreign Trade Council said in a statement. Trade Group Say U.S. Falling Behind Washington Times March 28, 2011 The White House s better-late-than-never approach to three trade agreements doesn t cut it for trade groups that say American businesses are quickly losing ground to global competitors. Within months, the Obama administration could complete free trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. But conservatives argue they are five years overdue and the delays paved the way for the growing economies in China, Brazil, Argentina and Canada to cut their own deals with these nations and leapfrog the United States. Time is of the essence, said Chuck Dittrich, vice president of the National Foreign Trade Council. Once a trade agreement with another country kicks in, then products from that country become cheaper, and even cheap enough that they replace us and American companies lose out. Calendar of Events April 5 April 7 April 8 April 11 April 13 April April 13 May 11 June 7 June 8 July 13 Talent Management, Immigration & Workforce Deployment Trends: What Lies A head - New York City Global Talent Management Committee* - New York City (By invitation) Trade & Finance Committee to discuss: Current Conditions and Future Prospects in Egypt Washington, DC National DEC Networking Reception Washington, DC Tax Lunch Forum - Speaker: Henry Louie, U.S. Treasury Department - Washington, DC Expatriate Management Committee* - New Orleans, LA International Benefits Committee* - New York City Tax Lunch Forum - Speaker: TBA (OECD/USCIB meeting is June 6-7) - Washington, DC April 1, NFTC Trade Matters Vol. 12 No. 13

6 July September October 5 October 5 October 6-7 November 9 December 7 Annual International Human Resources Management Forum New York City Expatriate Management Committee* - San Jose, CA National Foreign Trade Council Foundation s World Trade Dinner & Award Ceremony Washington, DC National Foreign Trade Council s Annual Meeting - Washington, DC Fall Tax Meeting - Washington, DC *Note: The WTO Committee Meetings, Trade Committee Meetings, Expatriate Management, Global Compensation, International Assignment Management, and International Benefits Committees are by invitation only. For information about them please contact NFTC at (202) or nftcinformation@nftc.org Links National Foreign Trade Council USA*Engage Global Innovation Forum Office of the U.S. Trade Representative U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service International Trade Administration Federal Trade Statistics U.S. Census U.S. Department of State U.S. Export Portal California Institute for Federal Policy Research California Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Institute of California CalTrade Report United States District Export Council National District Export Council Commercial News USA Trade Matters is a weekly summary of news and events on the trade policy front for members of the National Foreign Trade Council and subscribers. To subscribe to Trade Matters or you have suggestions for articles, please us at nftcinformation@nftc.org Thank you 2011 National Foreign Trade Council 1625 K Street, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC Phone: (202) Fax: (202) nftcinformation@nftc.org Please follow us on: April 1, NFTC Trade Matters Vol. 12 No. 13