New Bill Would Expand, Extend Trade Preference Programs

(World Trade Interactive)

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., introduced last week the New Partnership for Trade Development Act of 2009 (H.R. 4101) to strengthen and improve the African Growth and Opportunity Act, protect the trade interests of AGOA countries in apparel categories where they are particularly competitive, and extend similar trade benefits to lesser-developed countries outside of Africa. According to press sources, this bill includes the following provisions.

• expands duty-free, quota-free access to all products from AGOA beneficiaries as well as LDCs outside of Africa

• establishes a single rule of origin for AGOA, the Generalized System of Preferences and the DF/QF treatment provided to LDCs

• extends AGOA and GSP as far as 2019 and makes permanent benefits to AGOA LDCs

• extends AGOA’s third-country fabric rule from Sept. 30, 2012, to Sept. 30, 2015

• establishes a 10-year limit on the amount of certain apparel (including trousers and knit shirts and blouses) imported from Bangladesh and Cambodia that could benefit from DF/QF treatment but allows this limit to increase as much as 10% each year if certain conditions are met regarding the use of inputs originating in other developing countries or nations that have implemented a free trade agreement with the U.S.

• requires determinations of GSP eligibility for advanced developing countries to include consideration of the extent those countries offer preferential access to their markets to LDCs

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