After Iran Deal, U.S. Companies Face Being Left Out In Cold
WASHINGTON | By Yeganeh Torbati
Within hours of the announcement of an Iran nuclear deal early on Tuesday, lawyers around Washington were fielding calls from U.S. corporate clients eager to know what the 159-page deal would mean for their business prospects.
In the near term, the answer for most of them is: not very much.
U.S. companies face losing out to foreign competitors in Iran as they wait for signs that Tuesday's historic nuclear agreement is sticking and that U.S. lawmakers are willing to loosen long-standing restrictions on trade and investment, according to corporate lawyers and company executives.
Iran's agreement with major world powers to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions opens up the world's fourth-largest oil reserves, second-largest natural gas reserves and an 80 million population to multinationals.
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Corporate lawyers and trade groups said U.S. companies may start to push legislators to loosen restrictions now that the deal is signed, and as they start to see the tangible impact of losing out.
"What's particularly difficult for American companies is if they are the only ones that are prohibited whereas the rest of the world will be trading," said Vanessa Sciarra, vice president of the Emergency Committee for American Trade.
"Every time you're at a disadvantage relative to your foreign counterparts, you lose market share."
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/14/us-iran-nuclear-usa-companies-idUSKCN0PO2U120150714
