Business Roundtable

After today's overwhelming, 365-43 vote in the House to pass H.R. 6156, the Russia PNTR legislation, attention now turns to the Senate. A round-up:

Business Roundtable hailed passage in a release, "BRT Lauds House Approval of Russia PNTR Legislation, Urges Senate to Take Immediate Action", quoting Doug Oberhelman, Chairman & CEO, Caterpillar Inc., and Chair of BRT’s International Engagement Committee.

Ensuring that American companies and workers can compete in the growing Russian market is essential to increasing U.S. exports, growing our economy and creating more American jobs. Enactment of Russia PNTR will help to do just that, and we urge the Senate to approve the House-passed legislation as soon as possible in the ‘lame-duck’ session.”

BRT's chairman is Jim McNerney, chairman, president & CEO of Boeing. The campaign also issued a laudatory statement after House passage and calling for swift Senate action. Excerpt:

By establishing permanent normal trade relations with Russia, U.S. companies large, medium and small will be able to fully take advantage of the significant concessions Russia made earlier this year to join the World Trade Organization.

For Boeing, that means locking in Russia's commitment to lower its tariffs on commercial airplanes – a vital step to enabling our 80,000 U.S. commercial airplane workers to compete in that important market. Over the next 20 years, we expect Russian airlines to purchase nearly 900 new commercial airplanes valued at approximately $100 billion.

Wall Street Journal (subscription), "House Passes Russia Trade Bill, With a Condition":

Powerful business groups including the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have been lobbying hard for passage of the bill, which the Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates could double U.S. exports to Russia—currently its 20th-largest trading partner—within five years. Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the think tank, has warned that continued inaction could cost U.S. companies as much as $1 billion a year, or about a month's worth of exports.

More ...

• Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade, "Business Community Applauds Historic Bipartisan House Vote (365-43) on Russia PNTR"
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "Chamber Applauds House Passage of Russia PNTR Bill"
• Reuters, "U.S. House OKs Russia trade bill with human rights slap"
• The Hill (blog), "House approves legislation expanding trade with Russia"