American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washgton, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) President and CEO Cal Dooley joined U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Craig Morrison, President and CEO of Momentive Performance Materials Holdings LLC and Chairman of the ACC Board of Directors, and John Paro, Chairman, President and CEO of The HallStar Company, on Capitol Hill today to announce the release of a seminal new report, "Keys to Export Growth for the Chemical Sector."
The report identifies policy recommendations in five areas that will significantly boost exports and enhance the global competitiveness of the U.S. chemical sector, one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy. Proposed policy and regulatory changes in areas such as trade, energy, tax, regulation and transportation would add up to more than $58 billion in potential export growth in the chemical sector alone, according to the report.
The ACC report calls on regional and global initiatives to reduce or eliminate existing trade barriers and open up new markets, including forging a “robust and comprehensive” trade agreement with the European Union (EU). ACC also calls for the swift conclusion of negotiations on the TransPacific Economic Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which, according to the report, could generate an additional $1.2 billion in export growth in the chemical sector.
The American chemical industry employs 788,000 men and women, and of these jobs, more than 200,000 are export-dependent.