AEM Staff Named to U.S. Trade Advisory Committees

September 1, 2004 - Two staff executives of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), Milwaukee, Wis., have been appointed to serve on Industry Trade Advisor Committees.

Darrin Drollinger, AEM vice president for technical and safety services, has been appointed to the ITAC 16 committee on Standards and Technical Trade Barriers. Nick Yaksich, AEM vice president for government affairs, has been appointed to ITAC 2 committee on Automotive and Capital Goods.

The committees are public-private forums established by Congress to ensure industry has a voice in formulating U.S. trade policy. The appointments were made by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.

In other news, AEM recently announced its support of the addition of the Dominican Republic to the Central American Free Trade Agreement. When the agreement goes into effect, U.S. exports of agricultural and construction-related equipment will not face tariffs in the six participating countries-Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The Bush Administration estimates that with the addition of the Dominican Republic , the six countries comprising the agreement will become the second largest market in Latin America for overall U.S. exports. The region currently buys some $400 million to $500 million worth of American-made agricultural and construction equipment.