Ibec engagements in the U.S
Dear member,
I wanted to brief you on the outcome of Ibec's US engagement programme which took place in New York and DC last week. We were very fortunate to partner with a number of business representative organisations on events during the week which delivered a stellar line up of senior business leaders for us to engage with across all the key issues. Our programme also included strong engagement with US Government representatives as well as dovetailing with the Irish Government effort and meeting with major think tanks.
Some highlights from the week were Ibec representations to Congress, the Permanent Government, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and White House Adviser Gail Slater whose brief includes technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity. I attended the New York Stock Exchange Ireland Day organised by IrelandInc in the company of many great Irish corporations who are scaling up in the USA. On business to business, our briefings with GlobalWin, Information Technology Industry (ITI), US Council for International Business, National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce were both insightful and timely. We wrapped our programme around an evening stakeholder event at which we had many new and old friends in attendance and had an opportunity to launch the new Ibec publication Ireland and the US: A Win Win, read the publication here: http://www.ibec.ie/0/IbecUSA. I finished the week by delivering the key note address at the Irish US Council St Patricks Day lunch in New York.
The 4 big issues which dominated our discussions were:
1. US business is both optimistic and confident and has normalised around day to day change at the White House
2. Protectionism is a key and consistent feature of Trump's policy and an issue on which he will be predictable in his zeal
3. Recognition that Ireland is more pivotal than ever on key global policy issues in the context of Brexit but concerns of economic governance within Europe specifically on the issues of Data and Digital tax
4. Despite political tensions that pervade, business remains committed to finding solutions through multilateral structures such as the OECD and WTO
I was proud to be accompanied by our President Edel Creely and our Executive Director Team and collectively we made many strong representations while building on a powerful network and providing much potential for follow up in the months ahead. This follow up and our actions will focus on the key strategic policy issues of Tariffs, Digital Tax (including the issue of tax sovereignty) and reinforcing the OECD as the touchpoint for multilateralism.
This week brings Ibec to Brussels for the launch of our Future of Europe Campaign at the European Parliament on Wednesday where we will host no less than 300 guests including 4 commissioners, the leader of the European parliament, MEPs from a number of member states, business and media stakeholders. I will be back at the end of the week to update you on the outcome but for the moment will leave you with the latest Ibec podcast on Brexit and the Future of Europe. You can listen to the podcast here.
Kind regards
Danny McCoy
CEO, Ibec
Tuesday, 20 March 2018