Business Roundtable Applauds U.S.-China Agreement to Eliminate Chinese Subsidies

Washington, D.C. - Business Roundtable President John J. Castellani today issued the following statement applauding U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab’s success in eliminating Chinese export subsidies - a victory for the United States and international trade rules:

“The ability of U.S. companies and workers to compete successfully in the international economy depends on strong international trade agreements and rules and is critical to our country’s economic growth.

China’s agreement with the United States today to eliminate a wide range of export subsidies demonstrates clearly that the U.S. has more to gain by using WTO rules to make China a responsible trading partner than by using protectionist legislation.

We hope that as Congress moves forward with trade legislation it recognizes how significant today’s agreement is and does nothing to undermine international trade agreements and rules.

We congratulate Ambassador Susan Schwab on her success.”

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Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid. Collectively, they returned $112 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2005. Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with $90 billion in annual research and development spending – nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.

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