On Wednesday, June 10th, WITA co-hosted a webinar with the American Leadership Initiative (ALI) and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) to discuss the future of American leadership on trade in a digital age. Congresswoman DelBene has represented Washington State since 2012, and is a member of the House Ways & Means Trade Subcommittee. Prior to being elected to Congress, she was an executive with Microsoft. During her time in Congress, she has distinguished herself as a leader on trade and technology policy issues.
WITA Webinar Featuring:
Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Member of the House Ways and Means Committee
Dr. Orit Frenkel, Executive Director, The American Leadership Institute
Webinar Summary:
In this Webinar, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene discussed the future of trade with a focus on the Digital Sales Tax. Congresswoman DelBene conveyed her belief that the U.S. needs to lead the way in terms of privacy protections and stated that this is not a bipartisan issue.
She also noted that the USMCA offers hope that high standard digital agreements can be successfully implemented, the U.S. just needs to work on expanding these standards domestically and internationally. She then discussed the OECD investigation looking into the taxing of digital activities.
The webinar concluded with a Q & A session where Congresswoman DelBene touched upon what she is looking for from Vice President Biden in terms of trade, the upcoming hearing with Ambassador Lighthizer, and federal coronavirus response along with other issues.