On July 10, WITA discussed the prospects for renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences – a critical program for the U.S. in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, southeastern Europe, South America, and the Pacific Islands – which lapsed in 2020; as well as AGOA, and HOPE/HELP for Haiti, which both expire in 2025.

Featured Speakers:  

Fernando Capellán, President and CEO, Grupo M & Codevi

Ed Gresser, Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets, Progressive Policy Institute

Beth Hughes, Vice President, Trade and Customs Policy, American Apparel & Footwear Association

Olawunmi Osholake, Deputy Managing Director, Global Shea Alliance

Moderator: Nicole Bivens Collinson, Managing Principal, Operating Committee, International Trade & Government Relations Practice Leader, Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.

Speaker Biographies:

Fernando Anibal Capellan is President and CEO of Grupo M & Codevi. He was born in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic on February 9th, 1959. His business career began in the 1980s, when he founded Grupo M while studying industrial engineering. A textile firm, Grupo M introduced advanced production technologies, efficient manufacturing systems, modern human resource management, and a commitment to employees and the community that saw it become a standard of the Dominican textile industry.

Mr. Capellan became one of the first investors in Haiti, where he installed the industrial park, Codevi, in order to operate textile factories. In addition to his business operations, Mr. Capellan works with government entities, both national and international, to help develop inclusive rules and agreements that benefit the textile sector. He has served as president of the Dominican Association of Free Zones and the Free Zone Industries Association of Santiago, and currently serves on the executive committee of the National Council of Private Enterprise, the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic, the Cibao International Airport, and the Metropolitan Hospital of Santiago.

Ed Gresser is Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at the Progressive Policy Institute.

Ed returns to PPI after working for the think tank from 2001-2011. He most recently served as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In this position, he led USTR’s economic research unit from 2015-2021, and chaired the 21-agency Trade Policy Staff Committee.

Ed began his career on Capitol Hill before serving USTR as Policy Advisor to USTR Charlene Barshefsky from 1998 to 2001. He then led PPI’s Trade and Global Markets Project from 2001 to 2011. After PPI, he co-founded and directed the independent think tank ProgressiveEconomy until rejoining USTR in 2015. In 2013, the Washington International Trade Association presented him with its Lighthouse Award, awarded annually to an individual or group for significant contributions to trade policy.

Ed is the author of Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and the Global Economy (2007).  He has published in a variety of journals and newspapers, and his research has been cited by leading academics and international organizations including the WTO, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. He is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia Universities and a certificate from the Averell Harriman Institute for Advanced Study of the Soviet Union.

Beth Hughes is the Vice President of Trade and Customs Policy at American Apparel and Footwear Association. She is responsible for supporting the association’s efforts on international trade and customs issues. Beth oversees AAFA’s Trade Policy Committee, as well as AAFA’s Customs Group. Before joining AAFA, Beth served for six years as senior director, international affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association. Beth earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at George Washington University and received a Master of Arts in international affairs from Florida State University.

Olawunmi Osholake is the Deputy Managing Director of the Global Shea Alliance. Wunmi drives the development and growth of the Alliance in areas of sustainability, promotion, finance and administration. Specifically, she oversees the implementation of the GSA’s (Global Shea Alliance) sustainability program, develops and maintains relationships with international stakeholders, and manages GSA’s (Global Shea Alliance) external communications.

Nicole Bivens Collinson is a Managing Principal, Operating Committee, and International Trade and Government Relations Practice Leader with Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. She is located in the Washington, D.C., office. Ms. Collinson is a commentator on trade matters on MSNBC, NPR, and BBC and is the lead professional on ST&R’s engagement as legislative counsel to the National Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA).

Prior to joining ST&R Ms. Collinson served as assistant chief negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, responsible for the negotiation of bilateral agreements with Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, the Sub-Continent, and Africa. She also served as a country specialist in the International Trade Administration at the Department of Commerce, where she was responsible for the preparation of negotiations on specific topics between the U.S. and Latin America, Eastern Europe, China, and Hong Kong as well as the administration of complex textile agreements.

Ms. Collinson holds a master’s degree in international relations from The George Washington University and a triple bachelor’s degree in political science, European studies, and French from Georgetown College. She also studied at the Université de Caen in France. She is past chair of the Women in International Trade Charitable Trust, past president of Women in International Trade, an advisory board member of America’s TradePolicy.com, treasurer and board member of the Washington International Trade Association, and a member of the Washington International Trade Association Foundation and Women in Government Relations. She serves on the board of trustees for Georgetown College and is the past executive director for the U.S. Hosiery Manufacturers Coalition, the U.S. Apparel Industry Coalition, and the U.S. Sock Distributors Coalition. She is conversant in both French and Spanish.

Ken Levinson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) and Washington International Trade Foundation.

WITA is the world’s largest non-profit, non-partisan membership organization dedicated to providing a neutral forum for the open and robust discussion of international trade policy and economic issues. WITA and its affiliated groups have over 10,000 members, and more than 160 corporate sponsors and group memberships.

Ken has over 30 years of experience working with companies, associations, NGOs and governments, advocating innovative solutions to complex public policy challenges. Over the years, Ken has worked with clients in the technology, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, agriculture and food, financial services, retail, apparel, energy, and consumer products sectors.

Previously, Ken served as Senior Director for Global Government Affairs for AstraZeneca. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Ken served as Senior Vice President and COO at the Washington, DC consulting firm of Fontheim International. Ken joined Fontheim after spending six years on the staff of U.S. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV. Ken advised the Senator on foreign policy and national security matters, and served as the Senator’s chief advisor on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, dealing with issues related to international trade and tax policy.

Ken received his Master’s Degree from New York University after doing his undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst. Ken also spent a year studying at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Ken and his wife, the Reverend Donna Marsh, live in Bethesda, MD, with their two daughters.

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9:00 AM: Revitalization and Reform of the WTO with WTO Deputy Director General Ambassador Alan Wm. Wolff

• Featured Remarks by Ambassador Alan Wm. Wolff,Deputy Director General of the WTO, and Co-Acting Director General
• Discussion with:
  • Kenneth Levinson,Executive Director, Washington International Trade Association
  • Terence Stewart,former Managing Partner, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart, and author of the blog, Current Thoughts on Trade

9:30 AM-10:15 AM: Discussion: Revitalization and Reform of the WTO 

• Ambassador Rufus Yerxa,President of the National Foreign Trade Council and former Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization
• Simon Evenett,Professor of International Trade and Economic Development and MBA Director, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
• Jennifer Hillman,Senior Fellow for Trade and International Political Economy, Council on Foreign Relations
• Hiddo Houben,Deputy Permanent Representative, EU Mission to the WTO
•  

10:15 AM: What does a Neo-Progressive Trade Agenda look like? 

• Moderator: Catherine Novelli,President, Listening for America, former Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment
• Beth Baltzan,Founder, American Phoenix Trade Advisory Service and formerly with USTR and the House Ways & Means Committee
• Catherine Feingold,Director, AFL-CIO International Department
• Katrin Kuhlmann,President and Founder, New Markets Lab, and Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Kimberley Botwright,Community Lead, Global Trade and Investment, World Economic Forum

11:15 AM: Closing Keynote and Discussion: Ways & Means Chairman Richard Neal

• Rep. Richard Neal,Chairman, House Ways & Means Committee
• Discussion with Steve Lamar,President and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, and President of the Board, Washington International Trade Association

12:00 PM: Conference Close

To view more information on the event, please click here. 

The post WITC 2021: Day Two appeared first on WITA.

Trade Around the World

By: Madelyn Cunningham

The concluding panel of the 2020 Washington International Trade Conference was “Trade Around the World,” a discussion featuring ambassadors H.E. Fitsum Arega, Ambassador of Ethiopia, H.E. Rosemary Banks, Ambassador of New Zealand, H.E. Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union, and H.E. Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, Ambassador of Singapore. Laura Lane, President of Global Affairs for UPS, moderated the discussion through trade relations and FDI between their countries and the United States and the dissolution of the Appellate Body in the WTO.

Laura Lane opened the panel by discussing the relationship between Singapore and the United States, asking Ambassador Mirpuri to talk about this partnership and possible trade interests of Singapore in the future. Ambassador Mirpuri starts by stating the growing importance of trade in the political sphere, acknowledging that while the audience may have some familiarity with Singapore whether that be through business or the trade relationship with the United States, Singapore is a hyper-globalized country driven by trade.

Trade drives the Singaporean economy, but H.E. Mirpuri brought up the new challenges regarding issues of trade and expressed the need to identify where global trade will be going because of geopolitical conflict, recent anti-globalization and protectionist efforts, and the fourth wave of industrialization. To address these issues and changes, Mirpuri expressed that through the U.S. – Singapore trade relationship, Singapore has shifted its mindset towards future problems and adjusting in this age of digitization and global changes.

Ambassador Mirpuri stressed the need for a rules-based system in the WTO, explaining that for small countries especially, there must be an established system of rules and operations in order for the world dispute settlement process to be fully functioning. To account for the current instability in the WTO and the changing trade atmosphere with digitization, Ambassador Mirpuri identified how Singapore has been adapting.

Mirpuri stated that last month, partnered with New Zealand and Chile, Singapore concluded the Digital Economic Partnership Agreement (DEPA), and hopes agreement will act as a “pathfinder” for e-commerce. Another significant change was the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which is currently going through the ratification process.

Moderator Lane then shifted the conversation to bring in New Zealand Ambassador, H.E. Rosemary Banks, asking where she saw the U.S. – New Zealand relationship currently, and the issues on New Zealand’s trade agenda. Ambassador Banks brought up research recently done on the relationship between New Zealand and the United States, which concluded that the first time the country asked for a reciprocal trade agreement with the U.S. was in 1939. She stated that while trade relationships can take a long time, 80 years is a little excessive.

Ambassador Banks then brought up the direction of New Zealand trade policy, she stated that over the last 25 years, there has been significant emphasis on negotiating comprehensive bilateral agreements, establishing relationships with Asian Pacific countries, and maintaining global influence through existing trade agreements. While this has worked in favor of New Zealand, there is worry over taking assumptions of the three-pronged system for granted and the response to encourage the “open-pluralism approach”. Banks called back to Zoellick’s point in his remarks regarding the gap in systems for the process of creating new laws and rules.

Ambassador Banks expressed New Zealand’s excitement to head as the APEC Chair of 2021 in the form of a work program to be established this year, stating that there is a great need for multilateral trade relationships and a functioning and comprehensive dispute settlement system for trade issues. Banks concluded by answering a question asked in Ambassador Zoellick’s session regarding the importance of international trade.

To this, she brought up the “Trade for All Initiative”, a country-wide exercise that involved a consultation to listen to the entire population about their vision for trade policy. Through this consultation, it was found that there is a great divide as to thoughts on current New Zealand trade policy and whether or not it should be shifted in regard to the values of sustainability and equal economic empowerment.

Lane then brought Ambassador of Ethiopia, H.E. Fitsum Arega, into the conversation. With the recent push towards a multilateral trading system and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), Lane asked how this would tie into a future trade relationship between the United States and Ethiopia.

Ambassador Arega responded with increasing public investment of the Ethiopian government, both social and economic, strengthening the education sector and industrial infrastructure of the country. There is a growing preparation for global trade agreements and relationships in Ethiopia, and Arega identified Africa as the next frontier for business investment and trade because of these changes both domestically and continentally.

In addition to domestic reform, Ambassador Arega stated that the newly elected prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has made Ethiopian involvement in the World Trade Organization and global trade has a priority in recent years. Arega also identified the vast potential for a United States trade partnership with Ethiopia, as it builds its infrastructure, it has also been building an environmentally sustainable textile market. The African Continental Free Trade Agreement is also a turning point for the continent, Arega explained, allowing for greater opportunities for processing and attractive investment.

Lane turned to H.E. Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union, she asked whether or not the optimism for a US-EU trade agreement and future policies is warranted. Ambassador Lambrinidis responded that there is good reason to believe in the negotiations of future policy. He stated that when talking about the relationship between the United States and European Union, the benefits of this relationship could demonstrate that free trade can work in a globalized system and not in a way that would isolate certain countries.

Ambassador Lambrinidis identified the single European market as the biggest deregulation experiment in the world, allowing for an open market without borders of the most profitable businesses globally. The key focus of negotiations of a free market should be on the future, and special attention should be placed on the functions of said market from the grassroots of the economy to measure its effectiveness.

Lambrinidis also stated that the success of the single market is also reliant on the European progressive, values-based system; as trade is not only about making money, but about assigning values. GSP+ agreements establish that in order to negotiate and maintain a relationship, countries must also ensure human rights and sustainability practices.

Ambassador Lambrinidis then brought up the need for an established, rules-based system in the WTO and broader world order, as it is not only important to small countries, but also to large markets. Lambrinidis expressed great disdain for unilateral efforts to “destroy” the WTO, and while it is not easy to reverse protectionist and mercantilist policies and economies, he argued that the WTO must become stronger in the face of these issues and enforcing these changes.

With the changing world order comes new standards according to Lambrinidis, and no matter where countries are in their development, he believed there should be no exceptions to the implementation of these standards.

To further this point, Lane asked the panel to expand on their thoughts on the need to strengthen international systems and reforming the dispute settlement system of the WTO into this decade. Ambassador Rosemary Banks started the discussion, she stated that the first challenge of reforming multilateral organizations is having absolute commitment from major players of said organization.

Lane then moved on to special treatment for developing nations, especially as China, while a trade “powerhouse”, still receives exceptions from the WTO due to its first introduction as a developing country. Ambassador Lambrinidis identified this fact as a significant area of the WTO in need of reform as well as transparency and the Appellate Body.

He then stated that the WTO will always be in danger of collapsing as long as countries believe they are powerful enough to perform unilaterally and outside of its systems. He argued that without a neutral referee or party prosiding, dispute settlement will never work multilaterally, no matter how developed a rules-based system may be. China must play a bigger role in demanding rights but also in accepting obligations, and must be on board with future reforms.

Featuring:

H.E. Fitsum Arega, Ambassador of Ethiopia to the United States 

H.E. Rosemary Banks, Ambassador of New Zealand to the United States

H.E. Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union to the United States

H.E. Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, Ambassador of Singapore to the United States

Laura Lane, moderator, President, Global Public Affairs, UPS

To view more details about the event, visit the event page here.

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The post The Trade Agenda: What’s at Stake for Developing Countries? by WITA 10/24/19 appeared first on WITA.

Featuring:

Clete Willems, Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics and Deputy NEC Director at The White House in a discussion with Michael J. Smart, Managing Director, Rock Creek Global Advisors

To view more details about the event, visit the event page here.

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To celebrate the  70th anniversary of the signing of the GATT, WITA held a reception. The event payed homage to the belief of the 23 nations that signed the original GATT in October 1947 that international trade is essential to “raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, developing the full use of the resources of the world and expanding the production and exchange of goods.”

Featuring

Rufus Yerxa, National Foreign Trade Council

Ambassador Tim Groser, Embassy of New Zealand

Ambassador Susan Schwab, Mayer Brown LLP

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Two sets of expert panelists explored how Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) impacts U.S. stakeholders and the developing world. GSP, which provides the foundation for all U.S. trade preference programs, is set to expire in December, and Congress is currently considering its renewal. They discussed whether the program should be expanded or updated, and considered its prospects for a seamless renewal.

Featuring

Panel 1

Dan Anthony – U.S. Coalition for GSP

Stephanie Lester – Gap Inc.

Daniel Neumann, Sorini, Samet & Associates

Panel 2

Minister Prayoth Benyasut, Royal Thai Embassy

Eric Biel – Georgetown Law Center

Kim Elliott – Center for Global Development

Both Panels Moderated by Katrin Kuhlman – New Markets Lab

The post Does GSP Generate Security and Prosperity for the US? appeared first on WITA.

On September 28 & 29, 2016, WITA and the George Washington University presented the two-day Intensive Trade Seminar. The event overviewed  how the US Government formulates and enforces trade policy. The panels and speakers of the seminar provided unique opportunities for attendees to increase their professional knowledge base and broaden their network of contacts by learning the nuts and bolts of trade policy making.

The WITA/GWU Intensive Trade Seminar brings current issues in trade policy to life.  Participants interacted with career trade professionals, posed questions directly to policy makers, and learned in depth about the ever-shifting trade landscape.

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WITA presented an event with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría addressing the Washington DC Trade Community, followed by panel discussion on Trade and Inclusive Growth. Secretary-General Gurría, discussed the OECD’s work on Trade, Open Markets and Inclusive Growth.

The panel featured: Ken Ash, Director of Trade & Agriculture OECD; Nancy Donaldson, Director of the Washington Office International Labor Organization; Rob Mulligan, Senior Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs U.S, Council for International Business; and Shawn Donnan, World Trade Editor, Financial Times, as the Moderator.

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Ambassador Darci Vetter, Chief of Agricultural Negotiator, USTR gave remarks in one of the WITA TPP Series event: What’s at Stake for Agriculture?

The discussion panel featured: Jaime Castaneda, US Daisy Export Council; Audrae Erickson, Mead Johnson Nutrition; Dominique Harris, Cargill; Colin Hunter, Minister Counsellor-Agriculture, Embassy of Australia; Mary Latimer, Mars Incorporated; and Peter Thornton, North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

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