TAA, Andean trade preference extension urged

TAA, Andean trade preference extension urged    The National Foreign Trade Council and the American Apparel and Footwear Association this week urged Congress to pass legislation extending two key trade-related programs — the Trade Adjustment Assistance and the Andean Trade Preference Act.
   The NFTC, a Washington-based association of about 300 U.S. businesses engaged in international trade and investment, urged congressional lawmakers in a letter Tuesday to pass legislation extending funding for TAA program and ATPA beyond the current Feb. 12 expiration.
   The council noted that in early 2009 both the House and the Senate found bilateral support to authorize TAA through 2010 and redesign benefits to be more flexible and accessible.
   Since the new TAA program went into effect on May 18, 2009, more than 360,000 workers affected by more than 3,500 layoffs have been certified to receive TAA benefits, NFTC said. TAA for Firms is also seeing record usage with a 30 percent increase in small U.S. manufacturing and service firms being certified into the program this year over fiscal year 2009. The TAA for Farmers program has helped about 5,000 agricultural producers across the country improve their competitiveness, the council explained.
   American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) said in a statement: 'The TAA program plays a critical role in support of education and job placement for U.S. workers who, through no fault of their own, are displaced because of global competition. House approval is needed now to ensure these provisions do not expire at the end of this week.'
   According to a note last week by the trade law firm Barnes, Richardson and Colburn, the TAA is due to expire Feb. 12 'due to a drafting error in the legislation. The TAA program will expire completely instead of continuing past Feb. 12, 2011 in a scaled-back form, as Congress had intended. While the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee continue to meet regarding trade preference programs, including ATPA and TAA, an agreement has not been reached.'

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   The ATPA was due to expire at the end of 2010, but was extended (along with TAA) for six weeks as part of the Omnibus Trade ACT (H.R. 6517) that President Obama signed Dec. 30.'
   ATPA has enjoyed bipartisan support since 1992 and benefits hundreds of thousands of workers in the United States and the Andean countries that it serves, particularly in Colombia.

Reinsch

   'It lowers the cost of needed inputs into U.S. manufacturing, and as a centerpiece of U.S. antinarcotics policy in the region, provides needed jobs in the legitimate economy as an alternative to illegal production of narcotics. In the next four months alone, access under ATPA to the U.S. market for Colombian cut flowers for Valentine Day and Mother's Day can make the difference between destabilizing hunger and unemployment and Colombia's economic recovery from the recent devastating floods,' NFTC President William Reinsch wrote in the letter.
   'A lapse in these preferences, even for a short period, would threaten to undo many of our economic and foreign policy successes and objectives in the region,' he warned.
   'The ATPA supports a strong economic partnership between the United States and the Andean region,' the AAFA said. 'This partnership is critical to the success of our anti-drug policies with the region and to the survival of democratic economies and institutions in South America. Moreover, the ATPA program anchors an important export market and sourcing partner for the U.S. textile and apparel industry.