Kirk Outlines US Ambitions For Asia-Pac Trade

The United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk used a recent speech at the US Chamber of Commerce to emphasize the focus that the Administration is putting on trade relations with the Asia-Pacific, because “that is where the world’s most dynamic economies are expanding rapidly and creating significant opportunities to increase US exports and jobs".

He was looking forward particularly to next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Summit and the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

APEC is important, he said, as “the place where we work on a wide scale – across 21 Asia-Pacific economies – to develop effective and ambitious approaches to emerging trade challenges.” It was, he said, one of the qualities of APEC’s voluntary system that it allows topics to be tackled in a cooperative way, even though they may not be ready for formally binding disciplines.

The upcoming AEC talks will therefore focus on three priority areas: promoting green growth by addressing tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services; asking countries to adopt policies that will promote effective innovation by encouraging competition and open markets; and taking specific steps to improve the quality of regulatory systems and aligning regulatory approaches more closely.

On the other hand, in the TPP negotiations, the participating countries, he stated, “are seeking to secure binding commitments that reflect the highest levels of ambition” for market access in all sectors and address new issues never before included in a trade agreement.

"We are discussing cross-cutting horizontal issues like building regional production and supply chains, promoting development, and encouraging the participation of small- and medium-sized enterprises in global trade,” Kirk added. “We are looking at trade and investment barriers that hit small businesses the hardest – such as lack of transparency and complex legal frameworks – and we are finding ways to eliminate or minimize those barriers.”

He concluded that “both APEC and TPP hold promise of removing trade barriers and unlocking opportunities for US exporters selling Made in America products across the Asia-Pacific".

"We will accelerate our progress toward meeting the President’s National Export Initiative goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014,” he said.

October 30, 2011

Source: Tax News