Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker received the “Trade Leadership in the Digital Age Award” at the National Foreign Trade Council’s Annual World Dinner. Secretary Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman were honored for their distinguished achievements opening global markets and promoting rules-based trade and investment worldwide.
During her remarks, Secretary Pritzker discussed the importance of the Department’s partnership with the NFTC and policies related to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Safe Harbor Framework.
Remarks as Prepared for Delivery Thank you, Susan Molinari. I am always impressed by your use of the latest technology to create positive change in the world. From providing the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with tools that can find child pornography to hosting Autism Speaks’ research on the Google Cloud Platform, Susan is always looking for new ways to make a dent in some of the world’s biggest and most pressing challenges using Google’s technology.
I also want to thank Bill Reinsch, Alan Wolff, James Wilkinson, the National Foreign Trade Council, and the NFTC Foundation.
I am truly honored to receive this award. And I have to be completely honest with you – when I told my kids that you were giving me the Trade Leadership in the Digital Age Award, they were completely shocked that their mother was being recognized for anything to do with technology. I want to thank you for raising my high-tech cred with my children.
For the last century, the NFTC has been a critical advocate on pressing international trade issues on behalf of American companies. Specifically, for the Department of Commerce, you have served two critical roles.
First, you are an invaluable partner on the Administration’s National Export Initiative, which ensures that more American businesses can fully capitalize on new market opportunities around the world. As part of this partnership, you helped conceive of and implement Startup Global – an initiative that brings together the Department’s international trade experts and major companies like PayPal and Amazon to teach startups how sell their products globally from day one.
Second, you are an important policy advisor. We rely on the expertise of your members and tools like your new "policy checklist for the global digital economy” to advance free and rules-based trade. We all understand that virtually every modern company relies on the Internet to grow and flourish. Digitization is enabling firms of all sizes to sell their goods and services anywhere in the world to anyone with an Internet connection.
At the Department of Commerce, recognizing the need to stay at the forefront of the latest trends, we created the Digital Economy Leadership Team – which aligns the Department’s assets to create a one-stop shop that can better serve and be more responsive to businesses and the policy challenges they face in the digital age. I am pleased that the Digital Economy Leadership Team’s mission mirrors NFTC’s checklist, prioritizing everything from ensuring open flows of information to improving the global investment framework.
Tonight, I want to highlight two specific areas that we both agree will improve the digital trade landscape for U.S. exporters: the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The Safe Harbor Framework – administered by the Department of Commerce – is a foundational policy that protects privacy and facilitates data transfers across borders. This Framework is a critical infrastructure that underpins every sector of the global economy, and for the last 15 years, it has enabled American and European businesses to remain interconnected and thrive.
The U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework is based on fundamental principles that both sides of the Atlantic strongly support and endorse: notice, choice, onward transfer, data integrity, access, and enforcement. Last week, the European Court of Justice issued a ruling that has brought great uncertainty to the Safe Harbor Framework.
This decision does not recognize all that the United States has done to protect privacy. As a result, it is causing added costs to businesses and having unintended consequences on transatlantic business.
The best way to protect privacy and restore confidence in transatlantic data flows is to promptly release the strengthened Safe Harbor Framework that we have negotiated over the last two years with the European Commission.
I have expressed the need for urgent resolution with Minister Jourova, and today my team met with their European counterparts in Brussels.
We are prepared to move forward quickly, so that the thousands of U.S. and EU businesses that have complied with and relied on the Safe Harbor Framework can continue to grow the world's economy.
The good news is that, last week, we saw a substantial win for global trade. I commend my friend Ambassador Froman on his incredible and tireless work to close negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In the past two years, he’s been to Vietnam and Mexico 4 times, Singapore 5 times, Japan 6 times, and Malaysia 7 times, traveling over 565,000 miles by plane. I admire both his leadership and his tenacity.
Our teams at the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative worked hand-in-glove to complete the negotiation of this deal. Over the coming months, together, we will make the business case for TPP to Members of Congress and the American public.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership will ensure that our businesses can compete on a level playing field in some of the world’s most significant markets – and I am proud that the Department of Commerce will play a critical role in its implementation and enforcement. Our job is to bring TPP to life for your businesses and to be your long-term partner in its day-to-day execution.
Our Department provides industries with the data and market research you need to make smart decisions about where in the world to invest and sell your goods and services. We have more than 100 U.S. Export Assistance Centers across the United States that are available to work with your businesses to help you determine which markets are the best fit for selling your products.
We also have more than 185 foreign commercial service professionals in the eleven TPP partner countries alone. They stand ready to provide your companies with on-the-ground assistance to successfully navigate exporting into these new markets. In addition, the Commerce Department monitors our partners’ compliance and implementation of agreements; works with exporters of all sizes to overcome barriers caused by foreign government policies that violate trade obligations; and enforces basic trade rules.
While I may have spent the last two years in Washington, I will always feel most at home among the business community, and I am humbled to be recognized by my peers here tonight.
As a CEO at heart and one who cares so much about the issues that matter most to America’s businesses, I cannot miss this opportunity to make two requests of each of you here: We hope you will speak out about the urgent need for prompt action on the Safe Harbor Framework. And we ask you to make the case for TPP in your communities, in your states, and nationwide.
You are the human face of trade. Your voice matters most on these issues, and we need the support of strong partners like the National Foreign Trade Council.
To Bill, your entire team, and your members, thank you for this great honor, and thank you for all you do to keep America globally competitive and open for business.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
