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EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
December 1, 2000
Linda Ricci (202) 395-7254
(Address inquiries about release dates to the issuing agency.)
PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON "OFFSETS" IN
INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO HOLD FIRST MEETING
The Presidential Commission on Offsets in International Trade will
hold its first meeting on Monday, December 4, from 9:30 to 12:00 in the
White House Conference Center. Jacob Lew, Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, will chair the meeting of the Commission, whose
members include three Cabinet Secretaries and representatives from labor,
industry, and academia.
Establishment of the Commission is required by the Defense Offsets
Disclosure Act of 1999, and by Executive Order. The purpose of the
Commission is to review and report to Congress and the President on the
economic effects of offsets, including their impact on trade, employment,
and technological capabilities of U.S. firms and foreign firms in the
aerospace industry and its supplier industries, and in other high-tech
industries. The Commission will also examine offsets’ impact on U.S.
national security.
"Offsets" are conditions that a foreign government often
negotiates with a U.S. company seeking to export a major defense or
commercial system to its country, under which the country’s firms (a)
participate in the production of the system and/or its subsystems, or (b)
obtain other technological or economic benefits from the U.S. exporter.
Foreign governments frequently negotiate offsets in connection with the
import of U.S. aerospace systems (e.g., military or commercial aircraft),
and sometimes in connection with the import of U.S. goods and services in
other high-tech industries, such as power generation and telecommunications.
Commission members include Jacob J. Lew, Director of the Office of
Management and Budget (Chair of the Commission); William S. Cohen, Secretary
of Defense; Alexis M. Herman, Secretary of Labor; Madeleine K. Albright,
Secretary of State; Robert L. Mallett, Deputy Secretary of Commerce; R.
Thomas Buffenbarger, International President of the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; Philip M. Condit, Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer of the Boeing Company; Vance D. Coffman,
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin
Corporation; David C. Mowery, Professor of Business at the University of
California at Berkeley; Ann R. Markusen, Professor of Planning and Public
Affairs at the University of Minnesota; and Pierre A. Chao, Managing
Director of Equity Research, Global Aerospace Group, Credit Suisse First
Boston.
At the meeting, Commission members will hear testimony from labor and
industry officials who have participated in and been affected by offset
agreements, and from academic scholars who have studied the impact of
offsets. The meeting will be held in the Truman room of the White House
conference center, 726 Jackson Place, N.W., across from the White House on
the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue. Members of the public and press are
welcome to attend. Further information is posted on the Commission web
site (http://www.offsets.brtrc.net).