Canadian American Business Council Announces Digital Task Force as NAFTA Negotiations Begin

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The  process of modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) began in earnest this Wednesday with the launch of official negotiations in Washington, D.C.

NAFTA renegotiation provides a much-needed opportunity to incorporate strong digital trade policies. In an increasingly globalized, complicated, and perilous world, it is essential that our nations establish a framework of rules that:

• Promote innovation, value creation, and productivity gains that lead to competitive advantage for Canada and the US;
• Ensure regulatory coherence on cross-border trade and investment that remains flexible in the face of new and disruptive business models;
• Address critical issues related to trade in the digital economy (detailed below); and
• Foster digital inclusion and promote sustainable growth, leading to shared prosperity.

The Canadian American Business Council (CABC) is pleased to announce the establishment of a task force to develop recommendations for consideration by negotiators. The CABC Digital Task Force, co-chaired by Lena Trudeau and Gabe Batstone will produce a report on the Digital Framework for NAFTA, to be delivered to the negotiators as well as Ministers.

The CABC Digital Task Force will examine issues including: cross-border data flows, and in particular, data localization, legal jurisdiction, and privacy; principles related to digital goods and services, including customs duties on digital products; and tariffs on information and communications technology hardware.

Members of the Task Force include:
Lena Trudeau, Nuage Cloud Strategies
Gabe Batstone, Contextere
Steven De Eyre, Amazon
Christina Erling, Barrick Gold
Colin McKay, Google
Jennifer Sloan, Mastercard

Recommendations from the Task Force will be presented to the CABC Board of Directors for consideration at its September board meeting, and ultimately to NAFTA negotiators.

More information regarding the Task Force can be found at www.cabc.co  

For more, please contact: 
Maryscott Greenwood
Chief Executive Officer
sgreenwood@cabc.co

SOURCE Canadian American Business Council