WASHINGTON and PEORIA, Ill., June 24,
2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), a
critical tool long absent from United
States trade negotiations, cleared its final hurdle today
before being sent to President Obama. Passing the Senate with
bipartisan support, TPA is a linchpin that will provide U.S. trade
negotiators with the strongest possible negotiating position as the
U.S. seeks to expand trade with Europe, the Asia-Pacific Rim and developing
countries. While Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) played a leadership role
in support of TPA, a key difference-maker was the engagement of
Caterpillar employees.
"Congressional passage of TPA marks a significant victory for
supporters of trade and economic growth," said Caterpillar Chairman
and CEO Doug Oberhelman.
"Caterpillar has been a consistent, forceful voice for trade
throughout our 90-year history; and we're glad to see a bipartisan
Congressional majority reaffirm that the U.S. is serious about
increasing trade. We're also especially proud our employees sent
more than 27,000 letters to Washington to ensure their position in favor
of trade was known during this debate.
"We commend President Obama, Ambassador Froman, Speaker Boehner,
Leader McConnell, Senators Hatch and Wyden, and Chairman Ryan for
their commitment and persistence throughout this long process. We
are optimistic that TPA will lead the way for many new
market-opening agreements, including the Trans-Pacific
Partnership."
Caterpillar's employees and suppliers demonstrated their
understanding of how essential trade is to Caterpillar's ability to
grow and delivered that message to Washington. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and other agreements
create opportunities to enhance Caterpillar's exports. During the
past five years, Caterpillar has exported nearly $88 billion of products from the United States; during the same period more
than half of the company's U.S.-made products have been sold
overseas.
TPA, which has been provided to each president since
Franklin Roosevelt, has lapsed since
2007. The bill will be sent to President Obama where it will await
his signature.
About Caterpillar
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has
been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive
change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help
them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets.
With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184
billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of
construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines,
industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The
company principally operates through its three product segments –
Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy &
Transportation - and also provides financing and related services
through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit
caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit
caterpillar.com/social-media.
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this
press release relate to future events and expectations and are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe,"
"estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate,"
"plan," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar
words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All
statements other than statements of historical fact are
forward-looking statements, including, without limitation,
statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend
descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance,
and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking
statements.
Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those
described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a
number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and
regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the
industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies
and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes,
component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products
or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or
volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of
liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers;
(v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events
beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi)
failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting
increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost
of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital
markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated
with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest
rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in
delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's
customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services
regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing,
all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures
or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their
impact on demand for our products and our competitive position;
(xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products
that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly
competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and
pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits
from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash
flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a
failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or
future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management
decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM
customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and
regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or
anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense
or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat
Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased
pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other
employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings,
claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in
accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security;
(xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural
disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under
"Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on
February 17, 2015, for the year ended
December 31, 2014.
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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.