Overregulating the chemistry industry jeopardizes innovation, jobs, and economic growth. Learn more.
Ed Brzytwa is the American Chemistry Council’s Director for International Trade. He leads ACC’s trade policy and advocacy work, with a strong focus on influencing U.S. trade negotiation and policy initiatives to strengthen the business of chemistry. Prior to ACC, Ed was a trade policy advocate in the technology sector and a trade negotiator in Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and U.S. Department of Commerce. Ed obtained two Master’s degrees from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna in Austria, where he was a Fulbright fellow, and from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and has a Bachelor’s degree in The Classics from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Amid growing reports of supply chain bottlenecks and shortages, U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, made a timely visit to Geneva this week to affirm the Biden Administration’s support for the World Trade Organization (WTO) ahead the Twelfth WTO Ministerial Conference later this winter.
ACC’s comments here outline our views on the U.S.-China Phase One deal; the impact of the U.S. and China tariffs on the business of chemistry in the United States; the importance of excluding chemicals and plastics from both the U.S. and China tariffs; and more effective approaches to supporting domestic U.S. manufacturing.
In May, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) ramped up our trade advocacy by highlighting the essentiality of imports to U.S. chemicals manufacturing and by calling on Ambassador Tai and the U.S. Senate to take action on the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which would suspend duties on imported inputs that are vital to our industry’s global competitiveness.
When we think of U.S. jobs supported by overseas trade, our minds may naturally gravitate toward jobs that are made possible by exports. Selling more U.S.-made goods overseas is indeed a proven job-creator – and that’s true of the domestic chemicals industry as well – but it’s important not to overlook the role that imports also play in fueling job creation in the United States.
The United States and Japan have one of the strongest bilateral political and security relationships in the world. A comprehensive U.S.-Japan trade agreement, covering substantially all trade, will provide the necessary trade commitments to cement the economic component of this relationship. This will also set the precedent for future trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region, where the world's most dynamic and high-growth economies operate.
Trade in chemicals is a strong feature of the U.S.-UK trading relationship, totaling $5.7 billion in 2017. U.S. exports of chemicals to the UK were $2.8 billion in 2017 and U.S. imports of chemicals from the UK were $2.9 billion. Importantly, a significant portion of U.S.-UK chemicals trade is to related parties -- 54 percent of chemical imports from the UK, and 39 percent of chemical exports to the UK, are to related parties. The UK is an important market for U.S. chemicals exports, advantaged by significant investments in chemical manufacturing in the United States and highly integrated value chains.
A high-standard, comprehensive, market-opening trade agreement between the United States and Kenya will be an important model for EAC members and the CFTA parties to consider as they negotiate new provisions and add new parties. With this foothold, the United States can play an influential role in shaping trade policy across Africa, demonstrating that rules-based trade can spur economic growth and development. The United States can also use this agreement to build a platform for U.S. chemical manufacturers to expand exports to and enter new growth markets.
ACC sees significant, long-term value in negotiating a trade agreement with Kenya, a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a leading country in sub-Saharan Africa on trade and investment issues. Kenya borders five countries (Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) and is a founding member of the East African Community1. Kenya and twenty-seven other countries in Africa are party to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AcFTA), which entered into force on 30 May 2019.
Tariff elimination and regulatory alignment with key trading partners are essential to the global competitiveness of U.S. chemical manufacturers. U.S. free trade agreements, in particular the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), are the foundation of the multilateral trading system as embodied by the World Trade Organization (WTO). U.S.-written rules, and the U.S. strategy of competitive liberalization, compel trading partners to include higher standards in their own trade agreements. As a result, they become better partners and advocates at the WTO.
For the last several years, the U.S. chemical industry has sought – and continues to seek – greater market access around the world to take advantage of the historic expansion of chemical manufacturing capacity in the United States. We are most assuredly not seeking new tariffs or closed markets. After all, tariffs are taxes on the American people, as recent studies have confirmed that consumers are the ones who ultimately pay for these tariffs in the form of higher priced goods. We respectfully request that the United States and the European Union eliminate their chemical tariffs in their ongoing bilateral trade agreement negotiations and remove chemical tariffs from their respective countermeasure lists under the Large Civil Aircraft dispute.