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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