Trade Proponents Push Environmental Agreement Ahead of Talks
A World Trade Organization sponsored agreement on market access opening for environmental goods is supported by members of both parties in Congress, and the pact will help the U.S. and globe in conservation efforts, said lawmakers, business leaders and the Obama administration point man on trade policy at a Sept. 17 event. Negotiations on the agreement kicked off in July (see 14070811). They include the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, European Union and Taiwan.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Green products make up $1 trillion in annual global trade, and the U.S. accounts for roughly 50 percent of that, said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. USTR officials will participate in negotiations on the agreement next week in Geneva. The agreement could unlock big export opportunities for U.S. companies, and those exports will be more critical in the future as green goods trade is growing at 8 percent per year, said Froman. “Forty-one economies are negotiating the Environmental Goods Agreement in Geneva to reduce tariffs on environmental goods, such as wind turbines, water treatment filters, and solar water heaters, which can run as high as 35% and which pose a significant barrier to trade for U.S. companies,” he said at a Senate Finance Committee event. “Reducing tariffs on environmental goods can make them less expensive while helping U.S. exporters access foreign markets and supporting green jobs.”
An Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation agreement is the foundation for the WTO deal. That pact is lowering tariffs to 5 percent or less on 54 environmental products (here). “They’re basing it off the APEC list; I think we would like to see a discussion about making it bigger than the APEC list,” said National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch in an interview at the event. “I think there’s other countries who don’t want to go beyond the APEC list or may even be talking about making it smaller.” The NFTC is a founding member of the Coalition for Green Goods which also launched in July (see 14070913).
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a supporter of the agreement, said it offers an opportunity to make important reforms to an outdated HTS. “I’m hopeful in the current rounds of negotiation that we’re pretty aggressive in terms of trying to trade off tariff relief for other objectives that we have in the international arena,” he said. “[The tariff schedule] is outmoded, unfair and its time to reassess it.”
The administration, however, needs Trade Promotion Authority to get the best outcome in the environmental agreement, said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., at the event. “Without TPA, our negotiators are negotiating with one hand tied behind their backs,” said Camp. “This all means that TPA must be considered before finalizing any of these major trade agreements.” TPA is controversial legislation on Capitol Hill, and a bill introduced in January has not moved. Blumenauer said he disagreed that TPA is necessary to pass legislation on the green goods agreement. While not a necessity, TPA would likely help the administration get the goods agreement through Congress, said Reinsch. “With good management you can pass anything,” Reinsch said. “I think you can do these things without fast track, but it’s harder. It’s a lot more work.” -- Brian Dabbs