|
AmCham Shanghai Completes Successful Washington, D.C. Doorknock
|
Date: October 15, 2009
|
 |
|
 From September 21 to 24, a delegation led by AmCham Shanghai met with members of the Administration, Congress and other key decision makers during AmCham Shanghai’s 2009 Washington, D.C. Doorknock. Top U.S. officials were engaged on important issues concerning the American business community in China with a focus on enhancing U.S. competitiveness.
The delegation was comprised of representatives from Fortune 500 companies, SMEs, and entrepreneurs (for a complete list of delegate members, please see below). A key objective of the 2009 Doorknock was to engage policy makers on the importance of trade with China. Since 2000, U.S. exports to China have grown 340 percent and China has become America's third largest export market. Forty-eight U.S. states have seen at least triple-digit percentage increases in exports to China since 2000, and in 2008, 18 states had more than $1 billion in exports to China.
The delegation conveyed the message that improving U.S. competitiveness in China and increasing U.S. exports to China will drive economic growth and create jobs in the U.S., critically important as the American economy struggles to emerge from the economic downturn.
The AmCham Shanghai delegation focused on three key messages:
- Trade promotion. While U.S. exports to China have increased dramatically, increased funding for U.S. trade promotion programs will help American companies, particularly SMEs, to compete with our competition from the EU, Japan, Korea and competition from other countries, many of whom benefit from much stronger government support.
- Greentech. China's rapidly developing greentech market offers a tremendous commercial opportunity for American businesses. The delegation asked elected officials and policy makers to work with the American business community to develop the emerging Greentech and clean energy market in China.
- U.S.-China engagement. The delegation emphasized the importance of promoting continued engagement with China as the best way to ensure China meets its WTO commitments and to balance the U.S.-China commercial relationship.
Key meetings included those with the Department of Energy, Department of State, the White House Business Council, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, the offices of Democratic and Republican congressional leadership, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Brookings Institute and the Peterson Institute. During the meeting with Secretary Locke, he discussed his plans for expanding and increasing funding for the Foreign Commercial Service, as well as revising export control regulations to ease the limitations on U.S. companies exporting dual-use products to China and elsewhere.
The delegation also met with John Engler, the former Michigan governor and current president of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), who emphasized that more needs to be done by the U.S. government to encourage U.S. companies to sell American made goods overseas. AmCham Shanghai and NAM agreed that a review of U.S. export control regulations is needed to improve American competiveness abroad. At the Brookings Institute, Chamber members met with Ken Lieberthal, director of the John L. Thornton China Center and his team of noted China experts, who discussed the current mood in Washington toward U.S.-China relations and the overriding domestic priority of creating American jobs. Brookings expressed their interest in collaborating with AmCham Shanghai on future projects and reports with a particular focus on the Chamber's work in promoting the greentech sector and China's growing service industry.
This year's Doorknock was a huge success and one of the "best Doorknocks by far", said AmCham Shanghai Chairman Nor Coquillard. It presented the Chamber with an opportunity to share its messages about U.S. competiveness and the importance of continued U.S.-China engagement with top-level policymakers in the U.S., and also laid the groundwork for potential partnerships and collaborations. In the weeks ahead, the Chamber will follow up with the representatives it met with during the Doorknock and is looking forward to further visits to Shanghai by Administration leaders and members of Congress in the coming months.
For more information about the Doorknock, including a complete list of meetings, visit the AmCham Shanghai 2009 Doorknock blog!
AmCham Shanghai’s Doorknock delegation:
| Name |
Company/Organization |
Title/Position |
| Nor Coquillard |
Cargill China |
President |
| Phil Branham |
B&L Group |
President |
| Brenda Foster |
AmCham Shanghai |
President |
| Jeff Bernstein |
Emerge Logistics Managing |
Director |
| Matthew Chervenak |
General Biologic |
CEO |
| Ted Dean |
BDA Managing |
Director |
| John Grobowski |
Faegre & Benson |
Managing Partner |
| Tom McCawley |
Owens Corning |
General Manager, Energy Solutions |
| Charles McElwee |
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey |
Counsel |
| Robert Roche |
Acorn International |
Attorney & Investor |
| Steven Tseng |
KPMG Asia |
Pacific Partner-in-Charge, Transfer Pricing |
| Name |
Company/Organization |
Title/Position |
| David Basmajian |
AmCham Shanghai |
Director of Communications and Publications |
| Patrick McNally |
AmCham Shanghai |
Committees Liaison |
|
|
 |
|