ITI APPLAUDS TRADE AGREEMENT BREAKTHROUGH BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE, CONGRESS
05.10.2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ITI APPLAUDS TRADE AGREEMENT BREAKTHROUGH BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE, CONGRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Information
Technology Industry Council (ITI) President Rhett Dawson today hailed an announcement
from the White House and Congress on a breakthrough in negotiations on labor
standards in trade agreements. While the deal allows bilateral agreements
with Peru and Panama to move forward immediately, it also creates a framework
for consideration of the high tech industry’s top priorities: Korea and
renewal of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).
“Free trade is vital to the U.S. high tech industry’s competitiveness
abroad and this bipartisan agreement paves the way for agreements with Colombia,
Korea and, ultimately, Trade Promotion Authority for the President, which is
the most important part of the industry’s trade agenda,” Dawson
said. “America’s leadership on trade issues is at stake without
renewal of TPA.”
“We applaud the leadership of Chairman Rangel and ranking member McCrery
in the House Ways and Means Committee for their persistence in reaching a bipartisan
consensus and U.S. Trade Representative Schwab for her efforts to bring this
negotiation to resolution. This framework provides new growth opportunities
and expanded markets for U.S. high tech companies, which benefits American
workers and the innovation economy. Although there are several important
pieces of the trade agenda to complete, this is a significant bipartisan step
in the right direction toward TPA renewal. ”
ABOUT ITI
The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is an elite group of the
nation's top high-tech companies and is widely recognized as the tech industry's
most effective lobbying organization in Washington. ITI helps member
companies achieve their policy objectives through building relationships with
Members of Congress, Administration officials, and foreign governments; organizing
industry-wide consensus on policy issues; and working to enact tech-friendly
government policies.
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ITI member companies include Accenture, Agilent Technologies, AMD, Apple, Applied Materials, Canon U.S.A., Cisco, ca, Corning, Dell, Eastman Kodak, eBay, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lenovo, Lexmark, Micron, Microsoft, Monster, National Semiconductor, NCR, Oracle, Panasonic, SAP, Sony Electronics, Sun Microsystems, Symbol Technologies, Tektronix, Texas Instruments, Time Warner, Unisys, Verisign and Vonage.
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