Michael C. Maibach, President
& CEO
European-American
Business Council
202-637-3444 ~ www.EABC.org
EABC CALLS FOR
U.S. COMPLIANCE WITH WTO FSC/ETI DECISION
Patience
& Prudence
Needed On All Sides To Safeguard Trans-Atlantic Trade
Washington
- The European
Union (EU) announced last week that on March 1, 2004 it plans to impose
trade sanctions on U.S. products in the Foreign Sales Corporation
(FSC)/Extraterritorial
Income Act (ETI) dispute. The EABC calls on U.S. lawmakers to quickly
complete
their substantial efforts to comply with the World Trade Organization
(WTO)
rulings in the case, and for EU officials to practice patience and
prudence
for the good of the world’s largest trade relationship. The EABC
believes
that the interests of European and American companies, employees and
consumers
will best be served by compliance with WTO trade rules, as well as
avoidance
of trade sanctions.
The U.S.
has a clear WTO
mandate to repeal the FSC/ETI benefit,” said former EU and U.S.
Ambassadors
Hugo Paemen and Stuart Eizenstat, Co-Chairs of the EABC. “The EABC
commends
the Congressional leadership for its on-going efforts to finalize
replacement
legislation and thus meet its obligations under the WTO rules-based
system.
As U.S. legislation moves towards completion, EABC member companies
will
remain actively engaged to ensure that the final product is fair and
non-discriminatory.
Repeal of FSC/ETI and enactment of replacement legislation appears
within
reach, and it is hoped the imposition of EU sanctions will be
unnecessary.”
U.S.
compliance with the
WTO FSC/ETI rulings, as well as EU efforts to de-escalate this issue
will
ease tensions in a Trans-Atlantic trade relationship already
characterized
by other high-stakes trade disputes. The dispute involving steel, for
example,
makes enactment by Congress of the FSC/ETI replacement all the more
important
and timely. Good faith actions on all sides will also bolster the
credibility
of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and protect an international
trading
system established within the WTO framework. Continued escalation of
trade
disputes risks distorting the conditions necessary for global companies
to operate effectively, and in the long run is detrimental to world
trade
and the consumers it serves.
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