U.S. sets quota levels for Haiti HOPE imports

U.S. sets quota levels for Haiti HOPE imports The United States will allow 313 million-square-meter equivalent units of finished apparel articles from Haiti in the one-year period ending Dec. 19, 2008, theoretically allowing an increase under a program that has scarcely dented those numbers in real life.
   The quota amount is for imports authorized under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership for Encouragement (HOPE) Act. The quota numbers are based on total apparel imports to the United States. Haiti was eligible for 1 percent of that total during the year that will end Dec. 20, and then 1.25 percent during the coming year.
   Although the legislation that took effect a year ago was expected to provide a significant boost to Haiti's apparel exports, only about 1 percent of the allowable exports under HOPE were shipped this year.
   Officials said the program was new, but the main reason the HOPE volumes are so low is that most apparel coming into the United States from Haiti moves under previously existing trade agreements.