The other 30 advisory committees, including the Advisory Committee on Trade and Environmental Policy, generally approved (or were neutral) the agreement – although there were dissenting opinions and reservations about some provisions. (42) The Main Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations strongly supported the Agreement and stated that it considered that the Free Trade Agreement strongly defended the economic interests of the United States and substantially achieved the general and main negotiating objectives set out in the Trade Act of 2002. However, the union representative of this committee disagreed, saying that it had not achieved the objectives in a number of areas, including labour and the environment. As noted in this report, the Integrated Procurement Initiative has also sparked discussions. The question is the extent to which certain computer goods and medical equipment that are traded duty-free can be considered Singaporean. Since the items are already traded duty-free, the ISI would allow them to avoid U.S. tariffs of about 0.23% of the value of the import. The initiative targeted two Indonesian islands where many Singapore-based manufacturers source components. Indonesian manufacturers would not be covered by the labour, environmental and other provisions of the free trade agreement. Nor would Indonesia be obliged to grant reciprocal access to its markets. One of the concerns was that other countries, such as China, might also be able to use this provision to ship products to the U.S. via Singapore to avoid fees for U.S.
customs users. Wording removed from the final text of the free trade agreement seems to solve this problem. In order for a third country to benefit from the ISI, it would have to ship a qualified product from the United States to Singapore to be integrated into a product subject to the regional content requirement and then returned to the United States. On July 10, 2003, the House Judiciary Committee held a “fictitious” markup of the USTR project. President Sensenbrenner took the lead in declaring that “immigration policy has no place in free trade agreements,” citing Congress` power over immigration policy in Article 1,§8 of the U.S. Constitution. Members on both sides of the aisle agreed with President Sensenbrenner`s position, with several members further stating that the bill was an “insult to Congress.” The House Judiciary Committee recommended that free trade professionals be included in the H-1B nonimmigrant visa and that an FTA professional worker be counted in the H-1B cap during the first year he/she joins and again after the fifth year he/she applies for renewal. These recommendations are reflected in the bill before us. As for the impact of trade with Singapore on the United States? A group of analysts quantified the impact of the free trade agreement on U.S. well-being at a positive level of 0.19 percent of GDP, or about $18 billion. (46) Over the past three years, the USA has recorded trade surpluses with Singapore.
The net macroeconomic effect of this trade on U.S. employment is therefore generally positive, although bilateral trade balances have little impact on overall U.S. employment levels. However, at the micro level, the electronics and other machinery and equipment industries could face increased competition from imports under the FTA. With more than 1,400 pages and 21 chapters, the agreement achieves all the negotiating objectives required by Congress in the Trade Act of 2002 (TPA). Several large companies and trade organizations have supported FTAs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce provided comments to the USTR on issues it believes should be addressed in a final agreement. The U.S.-Singapore FTA Business Coalition, which includes members of the Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Coalition of Service Industries, and about 100 U.S. companies and other organizations, has expressed strong support for the FTA. (43) A fundamental issue in the context of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement was whether the US should continue its free trade and investment relationship on a bilateral basis with the island state of Singapore, rather than maintaining existing trade practices on both sides or pursuing liberalised trade relations by other means. He also discussed the impact of these liberalized trade and investment flows on U.S.
employment, imports and exports, as well as on U.S. companies` access to Singapore`s services markets. Supporters of the U.S.-Singapore free trade agreement say removing trade barriers between the two countries will lead to export growth. Article 20.1 of the EUSFTA establishes a Joint Committee to monitor the implementation of the Agreement and to examine trade relations between the Parties. USITC Publication 3651: This publication contains the General Notice of the United States Harmonized Tariff Plan (HTSUS) with the General and Specific Rules of Origin, a list of all goods that became duty-free upon entry into force, and the phase-out plan for goods that become duty-free over time. 9. (back) AFL-CIO. The cost of unfair trade. around 2003 www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/trade.cfm. The law, which provided the president with the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) (P.L. 107-210), included certain consultation and notification requirements for international trade agreements to be reviewed by Congress under expedited procedures.
The requirements are as follows:(11) Environment. (Chapter 18) The U.S. Trade Representative says the deal fully meets the environmental goals set by Congress when approved by the President Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). (36) Environmental commitments are part of the core text of the Trade Agreement. Both parties should ensure that their national environmental laws provide for a high level of environmental protection and strive to further improve those laws. .