U.S. Chamber Urges Leaders to Build on Trade Momentum at APEC

Joining USTR Kirk to Preview APEC Agenda, Donohue Calls on Leaders to ‘Think Big.. Be Bold’

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ahead of next month’s APEC 2011 Summit, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue today urged world leaders to capitalize on the momentum gained from Congress passing the trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama and advance “an aggressive trade agenda, with the Trans-Pacific Partnership at its center.”

“It’s time to think big. It’s time to be bold,” Donohue said today during a forum at the Chamber with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, FedEx Express Chief Operating Officer Michael Ducker, and National Center for APEC President Monica Whaley. “It’s time to commit to an aggressive new trade and investment agenda. It’s not time to rest on our laurels.”

Donohue will lead a business delegation to the APEC Summit to highlight that these goals are united in our most immediate opportunity, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. While the Asia-Pacific region boasts the fastest growing economies in the world, it’s also where the United States is falling behind. The U.S. share of Asia’s international trade has declined by 9% since 1990 as Asian nations have negotiated trading agreements among themselves.

“We want an agreement completed as soon as possible,” Donohue said. “But this must be an agreement with high standards. These standards will set the bar on regulatory coherence, investment, and intellectual property. And we want an agreement that is open to expansion to more countries that are willing to commit to these high standards.”