I would like to welcome everyone here today for what promises to be an interesting and important hearing on international standard setting and its impact on America s competitiveness.
Standards play a vital role in international trade.
The standard setting process, when carried out in an open and fair manner, can serve to promote free trade. Increasingly, however, concerns are being raised that our trading partners are using the international standard setting process as a barrier to US exports. TBT requires countries to put forward their best effort to use international standards. With TBT, ISO standards have become a critical factor in resolving trade disputes. As we will hear from our distinguished panelists, the US needs to do a lot more to ensure that American companies do not get lost in a sea of technical barriers to trade.