Coalition seeks U.S. trade preferences reform

Coalition seeks U.S. trade preferences reform    A coalition of 28 importers and non-governmental organizations asked the chairmen of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees, and the U.S. trade representative, to not only renew existing U.S. trade preference programs for developing countries, but reform them.
   'To that end, we would like to take the opportunity of your keen interest in preferences reform to offer our suggestions for a new program that would, we believe, preserve the best of existing programs and repair provisions that have not been effective,' the coalition said in a letter.
   The proposed measures for a single, comprehensive trade preferences program include:
   ' Simple and straightforward rules of origin.
   ' Broad product coverage.
   ' Clear and predictable eligibility criteria for countries and products.
   ' A strategic view to address country and product 'graduations' that would encourage additional bilateral and multilateral trade between and among the United States and developing countries.
   'U.S. trade preference programs have a profound positive effect on the reduction of poverty in the world's poorest countries by creating new economic opportunities for people in the developing world as well as here in the U.S.' said Stephanie Lester, vice president for international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, and a member of the coalition.
   'We urge policymakers to go a step further to reform trade preference programs to ensure their effectiveness in delivering benefits and addressing unmet needs,' said Chuck Dittrich, vice president of regional trade initiatives at the National Foreign Trade Council. 'Doing so will not only benefit less developed countries, but will help U.S. companies and workers remain competitive by decreasing the cost of needed manufacturing and other inputs.'
   Some of the other members of the coalition are the American Apparel and Footwear Association, Bread for the World, Coalition for GSP, The Hunger Project, Oxfam America, U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and World Vision.
   The coalition's letter warned that U.S. imports from sub-Saharan Africa have already dropped from $8 billion per month to about $3 billion per month and Cambodia has lost one-fifth of its garment industry since last fall.
   'Many of these countries have few resources and institutions to cushion the impact declines in trade will have on workers and the poor,' the coalition said. 'Swift and ambitious action on preferences renewal and reform can at least help shield them from a crisis they did not cause.'
   The coalition urged lawmakers to schedule hearings on the subject as soon as possible, and to renew expiring preferences for eligible countries 'well before they lapse so that current sourcing relationships are not damaged by uncertainty and the discussion on reform is not hurried to meet the year-end deadline.'