Carlos Gutierrez

Opinion Source Information:

From CNBC.com:

Gutierrez: US, China Need to Fight Protectionism

Speaking to business groups in Beijing, Gutierrez said the large U.S. trade deficit with China was feeding into protectionist sentiment but added that steps such as trade legislation aimed at China could only be counterproductive.

"It's no secret that the $256 billion bilateral trade deficit is a concern. It plays right into the hands of those who criticise not just free trade with China, but frankly, free trade in general," Gutierrez said, noting some of the rhetoric surrounding the U.S. presidential election.

"Economic isolationism has proven to be a flawed strategy and we have seen time and time again that protectionism doesn't protect anybody."

The United States for its part needs to reassure China that it welcomes investment, given the protectionist signals that have been sent to Beijing through experiences such as Chinese oil firm CNOOC's failed bid to buy Unocal in 2005, Gutierrez said.

He noted that while U.S. companies had invested more than $22 billion in China, Chinese firms had put just $550 million into the United States, despite many now being flush with cash.

Gutierrez was in Beijing to meet a number of Chinese officials, including his new counterpart, Chen Deming.

Opinion Source Information:

From Broadcastingcable.com:

Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez recommended that the president veto a resolution of disapproval overturning the Federal Communications Commission's loosening of the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership if that resolution is passed by the Senate and House.

 

As Commerce Secretary, he also oversees the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is the president's chief technology-policy adviser

 

Saying he was relaying the administration's views, Gutierrez told Inouye the FCC rule changes "modernizes outdated media-ownership regulations to appropriately take into account the plethora of news and information outlets that exist today. To overturn this action and require the federal government to reassert regulatory constraints on business decisions in a competitive media marketplace would exacerbate newspaper and broadcast financial challenges and, thus, not be in the public interest."

Opinion Source Information:

From AxcessNews:

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said vast small business opportunities would be opened with passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, at a town hall meeting held in the Miami area today that was sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

"The FTA would make trade with Colombia a two-way street, benefiting America's small businesses, farmers and workers," noted Gutierrez.

Gutierrez says, "For more than 16 years Congress has given more than 90 percent of Colombian imports duty-free access to the American market, while American exporters to Colombia still pay hundreds of millions in tariffs each year."