ITI: PASSAGE OF PERU TRADE AGREEMENT IN HOUSE WAYS AND COMMITTEE A “SIGNIFICANT STEP” FOR FREE TRADE AGENDA  

09.25.2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) President Rhett Dawson today praised passage of the Peru Free Trade Agreement in the House Ways and Means Committee on a bipartisan voice vote and called on Congress to approve the pact quickly.

ITI has been actively lobbying Congress in recent months for passage of free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, Colombia and Korea.  

“Free trade is vital to the U.S. high tech industry’s competitiveness abroad.  This vote shows bipartisan support for free trade and serves as a template for pending agreements with Panama, Colombia, and, most importantly, Korea,” Dawson said. 

“We applaud the leadership of Chairman Rangel and ranking member McCrery in the House Ways and Means Committee for reaching a bipartisan consensus on an issue so vital for U.S. economic leadership.  The Peru free trade agreement 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 opening markets for the global innovation economy.”

ABOUT ITI

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) represents the nation’s leading 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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