International trade plays a vital role in the consumer tech sector and the U.S. economy. But in an attempt to target unfair Chinese trade practices, the White House enacted steep tariffs on Chinese technology products and components.
Unfair trade practices must be addressed, but CTA believes the solution is not to put a new tax on U.S. businesses and force consumers to pay more for the tech products they need. CTA advocates for more effective and targeted trade policy approaches while organizing important voices in the tech community to show government officials how tariffs negatively impact our country.
Self-driving vehicles have the potential to save tens of thousands of American lives while offering unprecedented mobility to older people and people with disabilities. In order to maintain global leadership in this cutting edge technology, we need smart and technology technology-neutral policy approaches that promote innovation. CTA is encouraged by the federal government’s interest in self-driving cars and works with federal agencies to encourage the safe and expeditious rollout of new mobile technologies.
Frivolous litigation brought by so-called “patent trolls” drains $1.5 billion a week from the U.S. economy — money that innovators must spend on lawyers rather than research and development, marketing or creating jobs. CTA supports patent reform legislation reform that combats the explosion of lawsuits brought by patent trolls that victimize entrepreneurs and startups.
Spectrum is the oxygen of innovation. CTA is working to make more licensed and unlicensed spectrum available to meet the exploding needs of innovators and consumers. More, we are working to remove regulatory and other obstacles to the rapid deployment of next-generation 5G services.
Industry initiatives are helping to make recycling old electronics as easy as buying new ones. Meanwhile, the energy use of CE products continues to decline. U.S. manufacturers are reducing e-waste and adverse environmental effects. Meanwhile, CTA is pushing back on state mandates with arbitrary burdens and costs that threaten to reverse our industry’s sustainability success.
CTA produces two reports that evaluate innovation-friendly policies in the U.S. and abroad. The U.S. Innovation Scorecard — now in its fifth year — evaluates all 50 states on 12 indicators including undergraduates earning STEM degrees and laws governing emerging technologies such as drones, self-driving cars, ridesharing and short-term rentals.
The inaugural International Innovation Scorecard evaluates 38 countries and the European Union across 12 similar categories and from a uniquely American perspective in areas essential to global leadership in innovation: diversity, the ratio of female-to-male employees in the workplace, immigrants as a share of the national population, and freedom of thought and expression.
Visit CTA.tech/scorecard.
CTA’s Government Affairs Council (GAC) focuses on the public policy issues that impact the consumer technology industry. GAC holds monthly meetings to update members on the latest news from Capitol Hill and is divided into issue-based working groups.
The Consumer Technology Association Political Action Committee (CTAPAC) protects CTA members’ freedom to build and sell consumer technology products. CTAPAC is the only political action committee that specifically advocates on behalf of the consumer technology industry. Participation in the system through a robust PAC allows CTA to have a voice in the political process and empowers advocacy efforts with the additional resources needed to succeed.
I3, the flagship magazine from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, focuses on innovation in technology, policy and business as well as the entrepreneurs, industry leaders and startups that grow the consumer technology industry. Subscriptions to i3 are available free to qualified participants in the consumer electronics industry.