WASHINGTON – Today, global tech trade association ITI reacted to the inaugural meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC). ITI’s Executive Vice President of Policy Rob Strayer represented the tech industry at a TTC stakeholder roundtable.
“The need for governments to cooperate and markets to stay accessible has never been greater, and we believe that the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council can meet this challenge,” said Strayer. “We welcome the TTC’s commitment to growing bilateral trade and investment while strengthening global cooperation on areas including digital policy, data flows, international standards, and supply chains. As the TTC moves forward, we encourage its leaders to build on past cooperative efforts and base future work on shared tenets of non-discrimination, proportionality, and fostering international compatibility. Further, given that data flows underpin the transatlantic trade and tech relationship, we believe that advancing a successor agreement to the Privacy Shield as soon as possible will bolster the TTC’s ongoing work and lay the foundation for future success.
“ITI proposed and supported the creation of the TTC,” continued Strayer. “We commend the U.S. and EU for achieving this significant milestone and appreciated the opportunity to participate in the inaugural meeting today.”
This week, ITI published a blog on the importance of the TTC’s launch. In July, ITI issued near-term priorities for the effort, which followed recommendations ahead of June’s U.S.-EU Summit, a public statement calling for a forum to enhance bilateral cooperation and prevent the emergence of market access barriers, and specific recommendations for the creation of a TTC published earlier in 2021.