U.S. Industry CEOs See Swings In Domestic and Overseas Barriers

Liability and litigation are the biggest barriers overseas firms face in accessing the U.S. engineering and construction market that are not similarly faced by American firms seeking work abroad, says a survey by the Construction Industry Round Table, a McLean, Va., group of 100 CEOs of major U.S. firms. “The U.S. still owns the market in this,” said CIRT President Mark A. Casso at a meeting last month in Paris of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is studying construction trade barriers among its European country members. The study found tax regulation is a barrier for U.S. firms overseas, but faced less intensely by foreign firms here. Company ownership rules and contracting legal issues were two other areas showing divergence.