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Earlier this month, the United States and 13 other World Trade Organization members (Australia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, and Chinese Taipei), accounting for 86 percent of global trade in environmental goods, launched negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA) in Geneva, Switzerland.  ISRI, along with NAM, USCIB, NFTC, GE, Corning, and Coca Cola, represented the U.S. business delegation in support of efforts to include a wide range of environmental goods that impact American businesses. ISRI supports the inclusion of certain commodities, such as ferrous steel, copper, aluminum, and paper, and unique machinery utilized in the scrap recycling industry onto the list of goods being considered for tariff reductions (ISRI Comments to USTR).   If negotiations are successful, tariffs on such commodities and recycling related manufactured equipment, such as shredders, shears and bailers, would be significantly reduced or eliminated, making such shipments more competitive in the global marketplace.

To further support these efforts, ReMA has joined the Coalition for Green Trade as a steering committee member.   The purpose of the Coalition is to educate policymakers and the public on the importance of lowering trade barriers to environmental technologies.  The Coalition is committed to working with governments around the world to ensure a commercially meaningful EGA that promotes economic growth, improves environmental outcomes and advances innovation.

For more information about the economic impact of EGA please contact Joe Pickard, for advocacy and the WTO meeting itself Eric Harris.