Letter to President Bush on U.S. government procurements

Dear President Bush:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauds the leadership you have demonstrated in the war against terrorism and rogue regimes. We are also aware of the uncertain attitudes that many Americans may hold with respect to countries that are stalwart U.S. allies but have recently differed with the U.S. in some matters. This uncertainty has already manifested itself in legislative attempts to block U.S. procurement from companies domiciled in countries that did not support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

These companies often have American subsidiaries, with hundreds of thousands of American employees. But even when they don't, we are obligated under the WTO's Government Procurement Code to permit companies from all Code signatories to compete for most U.S. government procurements, including those related to Iraqi reconstruction projects.

We also believe that similar open competition obligations apply to World Bank Group-financed projects. These open competition government procurement rules apply to the governments of those countries that comprised the "coalition of the willing" as well as those that did not join that coalition. In 2001 government procurement covered by the WTO code exceeded $300 billion in value.

The U.S. Chamber does not believe that the overall commitment to open government procurement should be put at risk.

We respectfully request that you continue to apply these principles of non-discrimination as you lead us forward in the quest to rebuild and remake Iraq into a free and prosperous nation.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas J. Donohue
President and CEO
U.S. Chamber of Commerce