| February 12, 2007 | For Immediate Release |
Washington, DC—February 12, 2007—The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) today called on Congress to renew presidential Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and expressed support for other policies, such as expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), that help American workers compete in the global economy.
“Renewal of TPA is essential to concluding the Doha Development Agenda and future Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that expand markets for American IT exports and contribute to the health of America¹s innovation economy,” said Rhett Dawson, ITI’s president and CEO. “At the same time, America needs a trade policy that also enables our own workforce to compete effectively in the global marketplace. ITI is already on record in support of expanding TAA, and we will continue to work with the new Congress and the administration in this endeavor.”
“American innovation and growth in the high technology sector hinges on our ability to open global markets negotiated through FTAs on terms that are fair to American workers. Given a fair playing field set out through TPA, Americans can compete and win. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to set up that win through TPA renewal.”
Trade Promotion Authority allows the President, after close communication with the legislative branch, to submit trade agreements to Congress for a simple up or down vote. TPA allows US trade negotiators to negotiate agreements on better terms for Americans by giving other countries confidence that the agreements they negotiate will not be subject to renegotiation. ITI supported legislation during the 108th Congress that would expand Trade Adjustment Assistance to service workers.
TI member companies include Accenture, Agilent Technologies, AMD, Apple, Applied Materials, CA, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, Computer Association, Corning, Dell, Eastman Kodak, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lenovo, Lexmark, Micron, Microsoft, Monster, National Semiconductor, NCR, Network Appliance, Oracle, Panasonic, Qualcomm, RIM, SAP, Sony Electronics, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, Tektronix, Texas Instruments, Time Warner, Unisys, Verisign and Vonage.
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