Andean
Trade Preference Act (04-Apr-02)
Bush
is calling for passage of the Andean Trade Preferences
Act, a bill which expired last year, granting
special trade privileges to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia
and Bolivia.
The
bill eliminates tariffs on many of the countries'
exports to the United States, including asparagus
and flowers, and is viewed as an economic alternative
to drug cultivation and trafficking in those
countries. Bush granted an extension before
the countries must pay tariffs on some of their
exports to the United States. That extension
expires May 16 and cannot be extended which
is why the president is pushing a specific passage
deadline of April 22, Buchan said.
The
White House wants the bill to be expanded to
include textiles, a move that some Southern
lawmakers oppose, fearing the impact those exports
would have on American textile companies.
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