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51 American CEOs Call on President Obama to Make a High-Standard Bilateral Investment Treaty a Priority for November Meeting with President Xi
USCBC Leads Effort to Advance a US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty
Washington, DC, October 15, 2014—The US-China Business Council (USCBC) today organized a letter sent to President Obama and signed by 51 American CEOs supporting a high-standard US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).
In the letter to the President, the CEOs urge the administration to “make the prioritization of a high-standard BIT between the United States and China a visible part of your visit to China in November and bilateral meeting with President Xi.”
“America’s business leaders have sent a strong message to the White House supporting a high-standard US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty,” USCBC President John Frisbie said. “The administration should make the BIT a top economic focus of President Obama’s upcoming meetings with PRC President Xi Jinping.”
“Completing a high-standard US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty will have a significant and lasting impact on the trajectory of the US-China commercial relationship and a more equitable commercial framework to guide the relationship forward,” Frisbie concluded.
CEOs from the following companies signed the letter: Abbott, ACE Limited / ACE Group, Aetna, Alcoa, Amway Corporation, Applied Materials, Inc., Archer Daniels Midland Company, Cabot Corporation, Cargill Inc., The Carlyle Group, Caterpillar Inc., Celanese, Chemtura, Chindex International, Inc., Cigna, Citigroup, Inc., CNH Industrial, The Coca-Cola Company, The Cohen Group, Dell Inc., The Walt Disney Company, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc., Ecolab, Emerson, Ford Motor Company, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., The IBM Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, Mary Kay, Inc., McGraw Hill Financial, McLarty Associates, Mead Johnson Nutrition, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Merck & Co., Inc., Moody’s Corporation, Morgan Stanley, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Praxair, Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, Thermo Fisher Scientific, The Timken Company, Towers Watson, Tyco International, UL, United Technologies Corporation, Walmart, and Westinghouse Electric Company.
The full text of the letter:
October 15, 2014
The Honorable Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
The commercial relationship between the United States and China is enormously important to our companies and the health of the American economy. Getting this commercial relationship right – by expanding the opportunities and effectively addressing the challenges – will help maintain American economic strength and leadership in the decades ahead.
Concluding a meaningful US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) should be a top priority for your administration. We applaud your administration’s success in gaining agreement from China at the Strategic & Economic Dialogue two years ago to negotiate a BIT based on the American core principles. We further noted President Xi Jinping’s statement at this year’s Strategic & Economic Dialogue to negotiate with the United States a high-standard BIT as soon as possible, and appreciate the work you and your administration did to gain that pledge.
It is now time to move ahead to conclude the treaty text negotiations and begin work in early 2015 on ensuring China includes only a narrow list of excluded sectors (the “negative list”). Investment barriers are market access barriers, plain and simple. If China can significantly reduce its negative list and open markets to American manufacturers, agriculture producers, and service providers, you will find the business community fully engaged and supportive of your leadership to gain Senate approval of the treaty.
We urge you to make the prioritization of a high-standard BIT between the United States and China a visible part of your visit to China in November and bilateral meeting with President Xi. There are few other commercial outcomes that would gain as much support from business leaders in both the United States and China. Passage of a high-standard US-China Bilateral Investment Treaty would have a significant and lasting impact on the trajectory of the US-China commercial relationship, and create a more equitable framework to guide the relationship forward.
Sincerely,
Miles D. White
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Abbott
Evan G. Greenberg
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
ACE Limited/ACE Group
Mark T. Bertolini
Chairman, CEO and President
Aetna
Klaus Kleinfeld
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Alcoa
Steve Van Andel
Chairman
Amway Corporation
Michael R. Splinter
Executive Chairman
Applied Materials, Inc.
Patricia A. Woertz
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Archer Daniels Midland Company
Patrick M. Prevost
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cabot Corporation
David MacLennan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cargill Inc.
David Rubenstein
Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer
The Carlyle Group
Doug Oberhelman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Caterpillar Inc.
Mark C. Rohr
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Celanese
Craig A. Rogerson
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
Chemtura
Roberta Lipson
Chief Executive Officer and President
Chindex International, Inc.
David Cordani
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cigna
Michael Corbat
Chief Executive Officer
Citigroup, Inc.
Richard Tobin
Chief Executive Officer
CNH Industrial
Muhtar Kent
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Coca-Cola Company
The Honorable William S. Cohen
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Cohen Group
Michael S. Dell
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Dell Inc.
Robert A. Iger
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Walt Disney Company
Andrew N. Liveris
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Dow Chemical Company
Ellen Kullman
Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
DuPont
Daniel R. Langdon
Chief Executive Officer
East Penn Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Doug Baker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Ecolab
David N. Farr
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Emerson
Mark Fields
President and Chief Executive Officer
Ford Motor Company
Lloyd Blankfein
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Ginni Rometty
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
IBM Corporation
Alex Gorsky
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Johnson & Johnson
David H. Long
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Liberty Mutual Insurance Group
David Holl
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mary Kay, Inc.
Harold McGraw, III
Chairman of the Board
McGraw Hill Financial
Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty
Chairman
McLarty Associates
P. Kasper Jakobsen
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mead Johnson Nutrition
John A. Luke, Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
MeadWestvaco Corporation
Kenneth C. Frazier
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Merck & Co., Inc.
Raymond W. McDaniel
President and Chief Executive Officer
Moody’s Corporation
James P. Gorman
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Morgan Stanley
Indra K. Nooyi
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
PepsiCo
Ian C. Read
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Pfizer
Stephen F. Angel
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Praxair, Inc.
A.G. Lafley
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
The Procter & Gamble Company
Marc N. Casper
President and Chief Executive Officer
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Richard G. Kyle
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Timken Company
John J. Haley
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Towers Watson
George Oliver
Chief Executive Officer
Tyco International
Keith E. Williams
President and Chief Executive Officer
UL
Louis R. Chênevert
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
United Technologies Corporation
Doug McMillon
President and Chief Executive Officer
Walmart
Danny Roderick
President and Chief Executive Officer
Westinghouse Electric Company
