Two new trade agreements could help spread technologies and opportunities around the world
Amid all the economic uncertainty these days, one piece of good news is the nation's substantial trade surplus in services, including licenses of software and other intellectual property. American creativity and innovation, especially in technology, flow around the world in trade that supports millions of good jobs here at home. This year, Congress will have two important opportunities to strengthen America's global leadership in the knowledge economy.
Negotiators for the United States have reached comprehensive free trade agreements with Singapore and Chile. President Bush signed the Singapore trade pact last month, and the treaty with Chile is set to be signed June 6. Congressional ratification of these two groundbreaking accords would bring significant benefits to the U.S. economy, especially the high-tech sector, as well as to two important trading partners.
Access to global markets is vital to the U.S. software and computer-services industries, which employ nearly 2.2 million workers. Many technology companies earn more than half their revenue overseas.
Equally vital is an international framework of intellectual-property laws to spur investment and innovation and help counter the global problem of copyright infringement and piracy. Piracy cost $11 billion in lost software revenue last year, and industry's efforts to curb it are often hindered by inconsistent national rules and enforcement.
The Singapore and Chile trade pacts build on previous multilateral treaties to harmonize and enhance international protection of intellectual property in all its forms. Consistent with the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, these accords clarify the protection of online content and prohibit circumvention of technologies that protect digital works.
The agreements also help preserve open markets for electronic commerce. They are the first treaties to recognize trade in "digital products," and to guarantee that their e-commerce will be duty-free.
U.S. trade agreements with Singapore and Chile will bring significant market opportunities to the technology industries of all three nations in the years ahead. Consumers and businesses will gain a wider choice of innovative products and services.
The accords will strengthen mutually beneficial ties between the United States and two of the most progressive, prosperous economies in their respective regions. Singapore, although tiny geographically, is America's 11th largest trading partner, one of the few countries with which we carry a trade surplus in both goods and services.
Congressional approval of these trade pacts should pave the way for future agreements with other Asia Pacific nations, and for a Free Trade Agreement of the Americas that would benefit the entire Western Hemisphere. For those who make their living from competing in the global economy - which, directly or indirectly, is almost everyone - that's good news indeed.
Source: Microsoft Corporation
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