Report:

Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP) Meeting

10 March 2008,
State Department

The Committee serves the U.S. Government in a solely advisory capacity concerning current issues
and challenges in international economic policy. Topics for the March 10 meeting: “Regulatory
Dialogues: Current State and Future Prospects” with a particular emphasis on the US-EU
Transatlantic Council (TEC) and the US-Canada-Mexico Security and Prosperity Partnership
(SPP).

On March 10, 2008, the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy convened
at the U.S. Department of State. The Advisory Committee was formed to seek broader
input from businesses, non-governmental organizations, and academia on issues
regarding the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC and the Security and Prosperity
Partnership (SPP). This meeting was chaired by Ted Kassinger, former Deputy Secretary
and General Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Daniel S. Sullivan, Assistant
Secretary, Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs, U.S. State Department. The
meeting was open to the public, though it operated under “Chatham House Rules” which
precludes the direct quotation of any of the individual participants by name. The majority
of the participants, it seemed, were attached to corporations (Tyco, Bear Stearns, and
Boeing, for example) or business organizations (the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the
National Association of Manufacturers).
Both the TEC and the SPP are consultative bodies designed to reduce transaction
and regulatory costs. The TEC is responsible for transatlantic trade, while the SPP covers
the NAFTA signatories. Each body was reported on separately. Most were optimistic
about the future success of each, especially considering the level of engagement at high
executive levels. Last November’s meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council, for
example, drew input from no less than seven U.S. Cabinet Secretaries. It is hope that this
broad, strategic economic engagement will make trade more profitable for all involved.
Many of the participants wanted to stress that the key to continuing the success of the TEC
or the SPP is to “stay practicable, stay deliverable.” In other words, since each
organization is dealing with complex regulatory issues of national economies (or, in the
specific case of the TEC, both national economies and the economic policies of an
international organization, the European Union), it is important to set clear, attainable
goals, and to reach them one at a time. This is the best way to continue the kind of political
and diplomatic will necessary to continue cooperation.
One of the fears expressed by many of the participants was the extent to which 2009
represented a transition year for the transatlantic and trans-North American economies.
On the one hand, by the end of January 2009, the United States will have an entirely new
Presidential administration. It is too soon to tell whether or not that Administration will
lean to a free-trade or protectionist foreign policy. Many of the commentators at the
ACIEP criticized the Democratic Presidential contenders, Senators Hillary Rodham
Clinton and Barack Obama for what they perceived as unilateralist rhetoric on trade. Both
Senators Clinton and Obama have said negative things about NAFTA. Senator John
McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee, has, by contrast, expressed his faith in the
United States’ free trade agreements. Both Canada and Mexico, America’s NAFTA
partners, have expressed concern about such rhetoric. On the other hand, between March
of 2008 and the end of 2009, there will be three changes of Presidency at the European
Union. Such turbulence in leadership could also hamstring momentum on the TEC and
SPP. It was recommended that the TEC hold one more meeting, in November of 2008,
after Election Day in the United States, to brief the incoming administration (as it stands
now, the TEC is not due to meet again until May of 2008, and then not until May of 2009; it
was felt by many that this gap was too long). These transition fears caused some at the
ACIEP meeting to say that it was even more important for advisory bodies such as theirs
to keep the pressure up on continuing projects such as TEC and SPP.
Participants also discussed the connections between TEC and SPP. Both can create
regulatory regimes which can influence the national policies of other emerging economies,
whether they are in the Western Hemisphere, or rising powers such as India and China.
This would be most effective since, in the case of the TEC, Europe and the United States
represent 40% of all global commerce. It would then follow that if such a high percentage
of global commerce adopted a specific regulatory or trade policy, the rest of the world
would feel pressured to follow suit. The TEC and SPP could thus set the standard for the
remainder of the world to follow.