Washington, DC – Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) issued the following statements today after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notified Congress that the Administration intends in 90 days to initiate negotiation of an International Services Agreement (ISA), which will be open to any member of the World Trade Organization that is willing to meet the ISA’s high standards.

Chairman Camp stated:  “The ISA is a critical trade priority for me because it holds great promise for job creation in all sectors of the U.S. economy, including manufacturing and agriculture, as well as services, and can help rebuild momentum for a global agenda of trade liberalization.  I am impressed with the group of 21 WTO members thus far that plan to join the negotiations, representing dynamic developing and developed markets for U.S. exports.  We must now get about the work of reducing the substantial barriers that U.S. services exporters face around the globe.”   

Chairman Nunes:  “I strongly support an ambitious ISA.  The ISA is an unparalleled opportunity to reduce global barriers to U.S. services exports, and I want to see strong commitments across the full spectrum of services.  Around 80 percent of U.S. jobs are in our services sector, and these jobs pay well, so every time we increase the global market for this large sector’s exports, we create many new, well-paying U.S. jobs.  In addition, an efficient global market for services is critical to allowing U.S. agricultural and manufacturing exporters to design, develop, market, finance, insure, transport, install, repair, and provide administrative and computing support for U.S. exports.”