Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review July 19, 2001 / 28 Tamuz, 5761

James K. Glassman

Jim Glassman
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

Trade Promotion Authority: High-Tech’s Key Component for Competitiveness

http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
IMAGINE joining the two most potent forces in the world economy: the U.S. technological revolution and the global marketplace. That’s the promise that Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) holds out to America’s high-tech companies. TPA is essential for the president to negotiate with foreign countries to lower tariffs, but it’s in serious jeopardy -- in large part because of Old Economy thinking and the power of entrenched interests.

The high-tech industry is already the country’s leading importer and exporter, not to mention its largest direct investor overseas. Many Americans are surprised to learn that quintessential U.S. high-tech firms garner more than half their revenues abroad. Foreign buyers account for 59 percent of total sales for Intel, 58 percent for IBM, 56 percent for Hewlett-Packard.

Even so, there remains an enormous amount of room for such businesses to continue enjoying explosive levels of growth, helping the rest of the U.S. economy prosper -- but only if they can gain access to new markets.

Some 96 percent of the world’s people live outside our borders, and most are only starting to discover the wonders of the Internet. Just 3 percent of Latin American households enjoy access to the web (compared to about half of U.S. families). America’s high-tech firms need to be free to help the rest of the world join the New Economy – and to share in the proceeds when it does.

American companies, however, may find themselves locked out of this rich opportunity. It has been seven years since the White House had the ability to negotiate international trade pacts and then submit them to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Trade Promotion Authority (then called “fast-track” authority) lapsed in the early years of the Clinton Administration and was never renewed.

During that time, our foreign competitors have taken maximum advantage of international trade liberalization. There are roughly 130 free-trade agreements in place around the world, but the United States is party to just two of them -- one with Canada and Mexico, and another with Israel. The European Union, by contrast, has struck deals with 27 countries in recent years and has another 15 awaiting final approval.

American technology companies could easily lose their current advantage if they face higher tariffs than their foreign competitors -- competitors whose governments have had the foresight to tilt the playing field to their own advantage.

U.S. firms face a long list of obstacles in the global marketplace: not only soaring tariffs on information technology products, scientific instruments, and medical equipment, but also regulatory barriers to trade in information technology and communications products. TPA will help destroy those obstacles and ensure fair treatment for electronically delivered goods and services and full market access for industries essential to supporting e-commerce transactions, including telecommunications, computer, advertising, financial, distribution, and express-delivery services.

That’s only a partial list, and these complicated issues will require detailed talks even in the best of circumstances. Yet other countries currently aren’t willing to bargain seriously with our government. As European Union trade commissioner Pascal Lamy observed in March, “If [TPA] is denied by Congress, it would be hard for the U.S. administration to establish itself as a credible negotiating partner.”

Why is TPA so important? Simply because nobody wants to spend months in grueling negotiations to fashion a deal with U.S. trade officials, only to have it sabotaged by a small number of congressional politicians representing special interests.

“I’m at the table now -- every day --negotiating with countries from around the world,” America’s own top trade official, Robert Zoellick, said in June. “They have the full authority to negotiate for their nations’ interest. I need it, too. So now it is time. Not next year. Not later this year. But now.”

The difference between success and failure in business is often the result of how quickly a company grabs opportunities. The men and women of America’s warp-speed technology industry understand that essential truth. For them, every day that passes without Trade Promotion Authority represents another lost opportunity. Millions of employees and shareholders deserve better.

There’s a single way to ensure our country’s high-tech companies remain the best in the world: Let them do business there in the first place by approving TPA.


JWR contributor James K. Glassman is the host of Tech Central Station. Comment by clicking here.

Up

07/12/01: Nothing’s arbitrary about the contrarians
06/27/01: Look to Politics to Find Broadband's Market Cap Shortfall
06/22/01: Tech Commodity Buys Available for Mining
06/18/01: The Blackout Portfolio
06/14/01: The conservation myth stars as latest (sub)urban legend
06/07/01: Will America go high tech on the high seas?
06/05/01: 'Price gouging' doesn't cut it as reason for rising energy prices
06/01/01: Authentication tools opening up opportunities in online security
05/25/01: 'Price gouging' doesn’t cut it as reason for rising energy prices
05/21/01: Banking on High-Tech Education
05/17/01: It's No Time to Go Wobbly on Kyoto
05/02/01: Diversify with tech’s leaders
04/26/01: To Revive The New Economy, Release A Chokehold   —   Break Up The Bells
04/24/01: Who’s To Blame For Broadband Crisis? Wired Article Points To Bells
04/19/01: The Bush Budget
04/12/01: To revive The New Economy, release a chokehold --- break up the Bells
04/04/01: Even as stocks have fallen, the Net keeps booming
03/28/01: Where’s The Profit In Biotech Future?
03/22/01: The Joy of Debt: The last thing we should want is a U.S. Treasury flush with cash
03/19/01: 'Defensive' Stocks in the NASDAQ
03/15/01: Bush administration must say no to Jane and Kyoto
03/08/01: Time to buy small caps? Consider these five great techs
03/01/01: Bill’s and Larry’s continued political adventures
02/26/01: Chips on the Dips?
02/23/01: How Tauzin Can Keep His Word And Stop Telecom "Remonopolization"
02/13/01: Consumers, WAKE UP! Middlemen are ripping you off
02/02/01: Publicity-Seeking Politicians and Contingency-Fee Lawyers Corrupt the Law
01/26/01: DoubleClick, eBay And Their Promising Ilk
01/24/01: Will Cyberspace Look Like France or America?
12/27/00: Cut interest, taxes and regulation to save high-tech economy
12/20/00: Close, But No Big Czar
12/15/00: A Down Year? Maybe. But Let’s Put It in Perspective
12/13/00: Clinton’s sorry midnight race into history
12/07/00: Is Telecom’s Future The Bells, The Bells, and Only The Bells?
12/01/00: Money talks and walks in election aftermath
11/29/00: Climate Treaty Deadlock Shows Lack of Consensus and Common Sense
11/23/00: Climate change participants don’t listen to reasons for uncertainty
11/21/00: Will Regulators Create a Recession?
11/14/00: The Election and the Market
10/26/00: Hang on for the long term
10/25/00: On privacy, one size doesn’t fit all
10/24/00: Perish the bearish thought
10/19/00: Beating hunger --- the biggest prize
10/13/00: Way to play biotech
10/12/00: Bush vs. Gore on Technology
10/11/00: Global Climate Scare: Fools Rush In
10/05/00: Avoid the Apple Trap
10/03/00: Goodbye, anti-Microsoft crusader --- and good riddance
09/29/00: Should You Invest in Tech IPOs?
09/27/00: Could technology end airline delays?
09/22/00: Don’t Forget Small Caps
09/20/00: Is the New York Times Rooting for Disaster?
09/13/00: The Best Argument Against Net Regulation
08/30/00: Political Risk in Big Drug Stocks
07/27/00: Tech Dividends
07/25/00: Government Privacy Violators
07/20/00: If I Had to Pick One Tech Stock
07/18/00: Our Favorite Lawsuit
07/13/00: Silicon Valley East
07/11/00: Election 2000: Year of the Investor Class?
07/07/00: Adventures on the Amazon.com
07/06/00:The Difference Between Bill Gates and Larry Ellison
06/29/00: In the Chips
06/27/00: Free market wins in Federal Court!
06/22/00: Wireless Bargains?
06/20/00: Is Your SUV Warming the Planet?
06/15/00: Shopping for Government
06/13/00: Top 10 Tech Stocks
06/08/00: Riding the eBook Wave
06/06/00: "The Last Mile"
06/02/00: Keep Buying!
05/31/00: Who Asked the FTC to Regulate Online Privacy?
05/25/00: "When It’s Time to Sell"
05/23/00: End the "Telephone Tax"
05/16/00: Time Warner Gets a Bad Rap

© 2000, Tech Central Station