Statement to the Press on APEC Trip
By Thomas J. Donohue
President & CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

November 16, 2004

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for coming.

With the elections behind us, and the annual APEC meeting in front of us, I thought this would be a good time to get together and discuss the Chamber’s international agenda.

Tomorrow evening, I’ll be leaving for Santiago, Chile to attend the APEC CEO Summit. This is a meeting of business organizations and executives that is held every year alongside the annual gathering of the 21 heads of government and other officials who comprise APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).

The Chamber attends for a very simple reason: The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than 2.5 billion current and potential consumers of American products and services. APEC has a combined GDP of $19 trillion dollars and accounts for 47 percent of the world’s trade.

This is clearly one of the most important annual summits of global leaders, and one of the few where the focus is almost entirely on expanding trade and economic growth.

Along with our partner organizations and some of our members, we’ll have private meetings with heads of government from Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong and others soon to be confirmed.

In addition, I will lead a discussion on the issues surrounding Free Trade Agreements—a session that will feature an address by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.

And, we expect to visit with a number of our own officials as they work to chart President Bush’s trade agenda for his second term.

We will carry a set of clear messages to this summit.

First, we seek markets that are more open to American products, services and investments. This can be achieved by completing the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks, as well as additional bilateral Free Trade Agreements.

We will urge APEC leaders to reaffirm the critical importance of Doha, and hopefully we will come out of this meeting with some new momentum for getting the job done.

As for Free Trade Agreements, the Chamber has been a leader in supporting passage of FTAs with such nations as Singapore, Chile, and Australia.

We will be working for a favorable vote on the Central American agreement early next year, and we’re supportive of other potential agreements that are in the works, such as Thailand.

FTAs, as well as regional pacts like the Free Trade Area of the Americas, can be an effective strategy to open markets and reduce trade barriers.

They should not be seen as a substitute for a multilateral approach, but rather as an opportunity to go beyond what can be negotiated on a worldwide basis.

Our second message for APEC is that we need stronger protections for intellectual property and a genuine commitment to rooting out corruption and counterfeiting.

It’s estimated that IP theft costs U.S. companies $250 billion annually, and costs the entire global economy upwards of three quarters of a trillion dollars. 

The Chamber is working with governments, associations, and businesses across all industries on a major initiative to combat these crimes.

We’ve implemented country-specific programs in China and Brazil, and we plan to roll out customized programs for India, Korea, and Russia as well.

In fact, I was in Russia two weeks ago discussing this subject with the Prime Minister and other top Russian leaders. I would be happy to answer questions about that trip during the Q&A. It was a very interesting time to be in Russia!
 
As for APEC, it is a great forum to rally support for this effort, as well as to underscore the need for a region-wide attack on corruption.

Third, the region must do a better job of easing the flow of goods and commerce across borders.

This is often referred to as “trade facilitation”—and it means having customs and market-entry rules that are clear, fair and transparent.

We must do this if we want to spur growth, entrepreneurship, and investment throughout APEC. We can have all the nicely worded treaties in the world, but they won’t amount to very much if the channels of commerce are clogged with obstructions – including endless bureaucratic delays...wrong-headed inspections, tax and security policies...and all too often, corrupt, self-appointed gatekeepers at international ports of entry.

Let me hasten to add that the United States is host to some of these problems as well.

Which brings me to our fourth message.  It is that America should lead by example.

We must be bold. We must be principled. We can create untold new opportunities for American workers and families by expanding trade. We can reduce the trade deficit by expanding our exports. We can help bring hope and progress to the world by opening markets and spurring the growth of enterprise in developed and developing countries alike.

To achieve this, in 2005 the Chamber will work to advance an ambitious international agenda which we urge the administration and Congress to support.

As I have already suggested, we strongly support the successful completion of both the Doha Round and the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

We’re working to build a global response to the serious challenge of IP theft, piracy and counterfeiting.

Early next year, Congress should swiftly renew presidential Trade Promotion Authority, and reject any effort to pull the United States out of the World Trade Organization.

After further consultation with our members, we will work for additional Free Trade Agreements beyond those now in the pipeline. 

The Chamber will also be prepared to help steer a bilateral trade agreement between Russia and the United States through the Congress, so that Russia can join the WTO.

We must continue to reject misguided protectionist responses to outsourcing at the federal, state and local levels.

We must do a better job balancing mobility and security through effective policies that are more welcoming to foreign visitors. 

And we will continue to urge our European and Japanese partners to spur growth in their economies -- just as we will continue to urge China to move in an orderly fashion to a market-based currency.

These steps must be part of any realistic plan to cut our nation’s soaring trade deficit.

Can we achieve this ambitious international agenda as we head into 2005? The election results offer some encouragement, but no cause for complacency.

We can be encouraged because a candidate like Jim DeMint in South Carolina ran on strong pro-trade platforms in a state where the conventional wisdom said it would backfire—and he won handily.

We should also be encouraged by the fact that throughout this election year, Americans were subjected to an emotional attack against outsourcing— and an appeal to support policies that would close markets and punish companies engaged in global sourcing. Yet almost all such measures were rejected.

And, of course, the presidential ticket that made attacks on outsourcing a centerpiece of its campaign ended up on the losing side.

But despite these positive signs, the Chamber will take nothing for granted. We will work on both sides of the aisle to gain support for open markets, and trade expansion, as well as related issues such as immigration reform.

Why? Because that’s how you get enough votes to win. Let me remind you that divergent philosophies on these issues cut across party lines.

There are members of both parties who support free trade and members of both parties who tend to oppose it.

And so the Chamber in 2005 will work hard to build a strong bipartisan Congressional majority for trade and an America that is open to the world.

The bottom line is simple—96 percent of the world’s consumers live somewhere other than the United States.

We must not shut out the world and retreat into isolationism. We must continue to keep our own markets open as we push barriers down across the globe.

Expanding trade abroad is how we will create better jobs and better lives for Americans here at home.

Thank you. I’d be happy to take any questions.