Wyclef Jean presses for Haiti trade preferences

Wyclef Jean presses for Haiti trade preferences Singer Wyclef John testified before the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the House Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, where he asked for final U.S. approval of a trade preference law that would allow his native Haiti to export more textiles to the United States.
   Jean, a hip-hop artist who delivered some of his televised testimony in subdued, rhyming cadences he described to the subcommittee as a rap for the panel, urged the United States to finalize and implement the Hope Act. The law was passed at the end of the last session of Congress, but is still going through bureaucratic processes before taking effect.
   He also said Haiti needs help to increase education, tourism and the use of the arts as a means of economic development. At the same time, he used the Congressional appearance as a forum to encourage the Haitian diaspora in the United States — which has a heavy concentration in South Florida — to invest more in Haiti and participate in its economic growth.