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After some fruitful discussions on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings just wrapping up in Bali and a boost from the APEC Leaders themselves, negotiations to expand product coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) are back on track. Recall the ITA talks were suspended in July after China showed up in Geneva with a super-sized list of products it wanted [...]
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By Yael Weinman, ITI, and David LeDuc, SIIA We’ve all read the news stories and are concerned by the reports of how the U.S. government collects data for surveillance purposes. Our members, the world’s leading information technology companies, work to protect their customers’ privacy as they provide them with innovative products and services. We are committed to working in partnership with others [...]
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Yet another partisan budget showdown and potential government shutdown eclipsed a recent significant event in Washington that has the potential to drive innovation, economic growth, and job creation in the United States -- namely, last week’s visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh provided an opportunity to return our historic bilateral relationship to a firmer footing with significant positive [...]
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The European Union has taken an important step in affirming the ongoing vitality and integrity of the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA) by completing its legislative process to eliminate duties on key high-tech products covered by the ITA – a welcome move following a WTO decision against the EU in 2010. In a dispute-settlement case jointly pursued by the United States, Japan, and Taiwan, [...]
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Significant alignment between the U.S. and EU standards and regulations approaches can mean significant new opportunities for our economies, including new jobs and innovative products and services for consumers. Today in Brussels, U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman made that evident. Our goals for T-TIP are clear. A successful negotiation will create a comprehensive agreement, which not only [...]
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On Secretary of State John Kerry’s first trip to China, the U.S. and China established the U.S.-China Working group under the Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Mr. Todd Stern, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Mr. Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, jointly lead the Working Group. This week, Mr. Stern and Mr. Xie gathered again in Arlington, Virginia [...]
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Yesterday eBay Inc. formally opened its new Salt Lake City data center – a world class facility that is on track to help facilitate an estimated $300 billion in enabled commerce volume by 2015. Long story short, eBay is proving that environmental considerations can go hand-in-hand with good business strategy, and many transactions on eBay and PayPal will now be a little bit greener. The data center [...]
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In today’s political climate, many consider Congress to be dysfunctional, hampered by gridlock, and increasingly out of touch. Few would associate the body with the terms “pragmatic” or “forward-looking.” Yet, two out of the only six millennials currently serving in Congress, Representatives Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and Aaron Schock, R-Ill., have teamed up to combat this perception. Last week, [...]
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The U.S. House of Representatives has taken an important step forward to protect thousands of American jobs at risk by an arbitrary closure of the Federal Helium Reserve. With the House’s unanimous bipartisan approval (367-0!) on an amended version of H.R. 527, the U.S. Senate is given an opportunity to finally bring this matter to resolution and keep American businesses open and American jobs thriving. [...]
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This week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travels to Washington for meetings with President Obama and top Administration officials. Their primary topic: economic growth. But several key policies being pursued by the Indian government would work to restrict the import of innovative products and services into India, setting back that nation’s economy with ripple effects globally. We’ve written [...]
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