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Manufacturers and suppliers stand side by side to support a trade agreement between the EU and the USA.
The German automotive industry is, Yes to TTIP Under the umbrella of the German Association of the Automotive Industry VDA, automakers and suppliers are neck and neck in their support for a comprehensive free trade agreement between the Europe and the United States the German automotive industry in particular sees the enormous possibilities related to free trade and TTIP potential in close transatlantic cooperation were clearly defined at a press conference in the VDA-Haus in Berlin.
Please find below the statements made by Matthias Wissmann, VDA President; Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of Daimler AG Board; Dr. Norbert Reithofer, chairman of BMW AG Board; Council Prof Rupert Stadler Chairman of Audi AG; Arndt G Kirchhoff, CEO of Kirchhoff Holding GmbH Co KG; Dr. Volkmar Denner, Chairman of the Board at Robert Bosch GmbH; Matthias M ller, President and CEO of Dr. Ing hc F Porsche AG; Bernhard Mattes, chairman of Ford of Germany; and Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen AG.
Matthias Wissmann, VDA Partnership for transatlantic trade and investment TTIP offers huge opportunities for Germany and Europe A transatlantic market without borders, without import duties, but with common standards and safe investment on both sides of the Atlantic This will over stimulate the global economy would be a source of sustainable growth and prosperity for everyone in the US and EU levers on the steering wheel, exterior mirrors, bumpers and many other items have one thing in common, they must all be produced or tested separately twice on exporting to the United States, which leads to high costs if trade barriers are removed, it will allow save time and money, including that belonging to vehicle manufacturers, customers could develop and accelerate investment that would maintain and create jobs in Germany and Europe and increased competition gives consumers more innovation in modern technology and even better cars.
We are an exporting nation Germany enjoys life and, like virtually no other country on globalization and those who live in globalization must also play an active role in the training, we take the concerns of those who oppose the TTIP very seriously, but we do not share some of the questions are justified but we must not let it bother us not all that now resonates in the public debate consists of substantive arguments why today we would like to present counter-arguments to the many negative voices and show you the most important reasons why the VDA and its member companies are working for a comprehensive and ambitious free trade and investment agreement with the United States in short, why we say yes to TTIP.
Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Daimler AG TTIP is of major importance for Daimler and the German automotive industry in 2014, a good 14 percent of all German passenger car exports went to the United States we are talking about 620 000 vehicles that means the United States the second largest export destination for German carmakers after the UK in terms of the value of exports, the US is done first, with more than 20 billion euro Despite this, we are still considerable barriers to trade, including not only the high import duties, but also many regulations that we make it harder to sell our products at the present time, we lose the money, for example, because we need different mirrors, turn signals and taillights to the United States and Europe, or because we have to meet different rules security, for example on crash tests.
Europe and the United States agree regarding their objective requirements stricter declared don t exist anywhere else in the world, they differ only in the details Yet despite this, we must have development duplicate , double supply, and dual certification Therefore, it is meaningful to us to recognize the laws of others and continue to develop together in the future TTIP provides a unique opportunity to better integrate our markets on both sides of the Atlantic as the market opens, most small and medium enterprises will be able to put their products on the common market more competition makes them more attractive goods and better people in Europe and the United States will find there is a range more wider and more diverse products offered This has advantages that also benefit consumers in Germany, according to a study the EU, a family would have up to 545 euros more in their pocket each year for this reason, too, TTIP is long overdue and therefore Daimle r and the German automotive industry say Yes to TTIP.
Dr. Norbert Reithofer, BMW AG What are the import duties because they are intended to give the state budget some money for imported goods, especially to protect the national economy from the competition in almost every agreements negotiated by the EU, for example those with Korea and India, the import duties on vehicles are among the most important bone of contention here point has always been protection against competition, and competition between different locations, but with TTIP everything is different between Europe and the uS, we have not only a strong transatlantic trade we are also working in a close-knit production network that is unique worldwide automakers German exports to North America, and US manufacturers exporting to Europe, but all German manufacturers also produce in the United States likewise, constructe urs US automakers have plants in Europe producing GM, Ford and Chrysler in cooperation with Fiat Nearly 40 percent of auto sales worldwide are in the EU and the United States.
Thus, it quickly becomes apparent that neither side should be protected from other M. Zetsche, I do not need protection against your cars manufactured in the United States and the two of us don not need to be Mr. Mattes protected or Ms. Barra at GM's appropriate not to these days, and neither is helpful in our industry, he hears import duties 2 5 percent to 25 percent to states STATES on EU vehicles and an import duty of 10 percent on vehicles in the EU with two economic areas that are equal industry and at the same time are becoming more closely integrated, the largest impact of the import duty is to maintain the growth of return, for example, the German automotive industry alone pays more than a billion euros every year, we would do much better to invest that money in new technologies If we remove the tariff and non-tar ifaires that is, import duties and unnecessary bureaucratic and regulatory differences, the result will be economic opportunities to put it simply opens up a huge TTIP p otentials growth for Europe and Europe, particularly the United States urgently needs this kind of boost that's why we say yes to TTIP.
Prof. Rupert Stadler, Audi AG Not only import duties but non-tariff barriers in particular are of great importance for us, the EU and the United States often have regulations and standards, however, have tire Similar results have good traction on sides of the Atlantic control outbound on the steering wheel can be used both here and there without any problem of seat belt systems protect drivers and passengers in both the EU and America, but to date it has not been possible to simply license the US car already approved in Europe this is not the most appropriate in Europe are just as capable of driving a car like the US so why do cars have to be different, we all know that the regulations and standards, once established, are difficult to change later Fortunately, the situation is more s imple when new standards are defined from scratch regulations and future standards will therefore play a major role in the TTIP negotiations What is decisive is that with TTIP, EU and the United States agree that future regulation in the automotive sector should be both adopted and agreement then in the long run, this basic principle will apply to all approved technologies, once accepted everywhere.
TTIP negotiating partners have a clear job they should mark the framework for future cooperation regulation, and should give this framework institutional forms, but it is also clear that both parties to TTIP will, as before, have the last word on the rules applicable to vehicles on their roads that matters is the greater efficiency resulting if we therefore recognize the regulations of each we say yes to TTIP.
G Arndt Kirchhoff Kirchhoff Holding GmbH Co KG Currently, many medium-sized companies still decide to venture into new markets because of high costs but TTIP would actually open the US market specifically for small and medium enterprises they could then avoid bureaucracy and high administrative costs that arise because of the different regulations and standards they could finally afford to enter the market in the United States that would drive sales and create many new jobs with TTIP we can not only eliminate the import costly duplicate charges and regulations unnecessary.
There is actually a third decisive element in the agreement that we support, and which is investment protection The German automotive industry is very strong in exports at the same time, it produces more than 60 percent of its passenger cars outside Germany, on many international sites and the number is rising These direct investments into billions, and in many countries they need protection which is why the investment protection is so important in TTIP it sends a signal to all other countries whose legal system is not well developed as in the US or here in Germany TTIP has the potential to become the global standard for the protection of fair investment and secure This particular benefit the many small and medium sized companies in Germany, who can not afford their own major legal processes to go through national courts would be much too long.
End the polemic against arbitration courts and instead, we'll talk about how rather than whether we should have a good arbitration If we don t now use the opportunity to set a gold standard for future investment protection worldwide with our transatlantic partner, probably others will do the rules in the future they will be better then most likely not a campaign stop TTIP will not solve all problems, and as a political strategy leads to deadlock, so we say yes to TTIP.
Dr. Volkmar Denner, Robert Bosch GmbH specifically for us as a leading provider of technology and services of the world, it is very laborious to adapt our products separately on all markets parallel developments entail costs that could be avoided Agreement trade between the EU and the US save time and money that could be better invested in new products and jobs to do something that nobody wants to clear dilute the high standards of safety and the environment also these standards are also very demanding in the United States, and some of them are there more than in Europe, for example, some important standards in the automotive industry came from the United States, as crash tests and exhaust regulations accordingly, new technologies such as airbags and catalytic converters have been introduced, that i have improved vehicle safety and compatibility with the environment.
However, when different regulations evidently result in the same levels of protection and security, it makes sense to harmonize Experience shows that harmonization, or at least convergence, needs a lot of courage and farsightedness that politicians and companies must demonstrate now taking the opportunity for more intensive cooperation on regulations This is the only way to make the transatlantic market a reality If TTIP eliminates import duties and non-tariff trade barriers, which will clear the way for a huge growth spurt and which will bring benefits for all of us the same industry and consumers therefore we say yes to TTIP we are in favor of free trade agreement and we appeal to politicians to stay the course and advance the negotiations openly and quickly it would be a missed opportunity for Europe, if the agreement was not concluded.
Matthias M ller, Porsche AG for the automotive industry there are huge opportunities for closer cooperation on the regulation, because it also clearly gives us an economic advantage, the removal of trade barriers is certainly a good thing, however we TTIP helps ensure that future trade barriers does not arise in the first place and that is of course much more effective than the removal of trade barriers once they exist.
Let me illustrate this using electric mobility such as electric mobility is new territory, not only for us, the manufacturers, but also for lawmakers in Europe and the US Thus, in the case of electric mobility, we can define unified international standards from the start whether you talk about the labeling requirements, testing or safety of batteries or standardized connectors, sockets charging or charging procedures will be needed if global standards this new technology must be made suitable for everyday use that will benefit not only car manufacturers, industry suppliers and electricity networks, but especially customers.
At the same time, the example of electric mobility highlights another criterion of success if the regulations have already developed very differently, and have set up several years ago, it is naturally very difficult to align this means the sooner we have an international regulatory cooperation, the better the chances that trading partners will agree on common rules so we say yes to TTIP.
Bernhard Mattes, Ford Germany Besides the many we must also purely economic benefits of TTIP, keep the overview in mind Free Trade Cause between the EU and the US in the automotive market, which is to global importance, will have far-reaching positive impacts in other regions and markets Why this aspect so important for Germany especially for us as an exporting nation, access to sales markets worldwide is of fundamental importance Three of the four cars that we produce here Germany go to destinations outside the critical point is that most of the growth occurs outside of Europe, for example, in the five recent years, new car sales in China have more than doubled, while the United States, they have climbed about 60 percent in contrast, Western Europe has successfully expanded to n ew slightly for the first time in 2014 after four years of withdrawal.
What does this say Focal growth points are changing the global economic map is changing By 2050, world population will have grown to 9 billion, and the EU represent only 7 percent of the total population, while Germany as an individual nation represent less than 1 percent therefore, Germany needs a strong Europe, and Europe needs strong transatlantic relationship if it is to being a major player in the active training the global geopolitical map in this respect TTIP provides a unique opportunity we should not just leave the work to others because without TTIP, the US focus more on partnerships in the other Pacific with TTIP we can set standards and EU requirements and the United States as a reference They can then be used as a model in world trade, so we say yes to TTIP.
Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen AG commercial transatlantic partnership will provide a historic opportunity in Europe and the United States can now set the standards together that will shape our world in the coming decades if we recognize the rules and regulations of the other, and harmonize really long term, the agreement will become an engine powering Europe as a place of business, so I urgently calls for a comprehensive trade agreement with the United States.
Statements and information on TTIP are available online.
German car industry says "Yes to TTIP! ", German, automotive, industry says.