International Trade committee  About Chinese acquisitions of....

International Trade committee  I believe that's the hope, but this is a real conundrum. The goal of reducing specific U.S. bilateral trade deficits is articulated often by the administration in Washington. How you do that is less clear. As I've argued, rules of origin is a weak read. It's not a tool that can r

International Trade committee  It's unfortunate, but I don't believe they're here in the room at the moment, because some of us are doing multiple meetings at the same time. I'd be very happy to have them circle back with you with a more accurate response than I can give.

International Trade committee  This is an area that has been pretty much in the news, and I don't want to do it—

International Trade committee  We're strong supporters of a commercially meaningful de minimis level. We believe there's evidence through studies conducted in a number of jurisdictions that show that the tariff revenue forgone by having a higher de minimis level is actually more than compensated for with the i

International Trade committee  We're torn, because we're mindful of, particularly with regard to Mexico, the political calculus there. We've been supportive of the idea of moving relatively quickly, but at the end of the day, we're a business organization that represents our member companies, and consistently

International Trade committee  Well, it's a good question and I have my view, but I'm sure, along with the process here, you'll hear from representatives of Mexican industry and other Mexican stakeholders. The recent political developments in the United States have complicated U.S. relations with Mexico in a

International Trade committee  With regard to the U.S. and Mexico trade balance, I would first quickly reiterate our view that one shouldn't focus on it. It's the wrong yardstick for trying to measure success or failure in a bilateral trade relationship. Beyond that, it's interesting if you dig into the number

International Trade committee  Typically, the U.S. business community has not had a powerful message about the timeline. We're more concerned about the substance of the negotiation. This is something we've often said. We're mindful of the Mexican political calendar, and that poses a real challenge for our Mexi

International Trade committee  With regard to rules of origin and raising the North American content requirements.

International Trade committee  In a number of sectors, I believe it is already the case that companies choose not to trade under NAFTA rules, and simply trade under the WTO rules, and pay the so-called most favoured nation tariff. It's simply because the bureaucracy involved in providing evidence of origin a

International Trade committee  With regard to labour mobility, the U.S. business community is generally very supportive of measures to allow easier travel of professionals. However, the political complications in the United States Congress are substantial in this area. I remember that the last time a U.S. tr

International Trade committee  There's no conceptual reason why, under the existing NAFTA provisions, there shouldn't be a category that would allow that to happen. There's a widespread view that the categorizations need to be modernized. In fact, that's something that has been done in the past already, I thin

International Trade committee  We're a month into the negotiations. In this area and several others, it appears to be the case that the administration is making some hard decisions internally and trying to move the draft texts through our interagency process as well as through the congressional committees of j

International Trade committee  The state of play with regard to that matter is unclear. I believe Secretary Ross recently told the press that a decision on this is being deferred until after tax reform is done, and it's really unclear how long that's going to be. It's been a process that has been difficult t