International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Nine legislative days before three trade preference programs expire, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said both he and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., are working to make sure the tariff breaks for these developing countries continue past Sept. 30.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., a member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade, told International Trade Today that Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., is looking to pass a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act "now that we got the big, beautiful bill through," adding that Smith has wanted to do this "for a while."
U.S. retailers will move their supply chains out of Africa and into Asia should Congress not renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act or change the third-country fabric provision for the region, according to trade groups representing domestic U.S. apparel retailers.
At a luncheon July 9 with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if he supported a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, so that it doesn't end in September.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, wanted to include trade items in the bill that extends and expands Trump income tax cuts, according to a lobbyist on trade matters.
Producing scrubs in Haiti allows American firms to avoid 29% tariffs on pants, 16% tariffs on tops, and still import the fabric from Asia. But the trade preferences for Haiti known as HOPE/HELP expire in three months and 11 days, and Republicans who control the voting calendar are not reassuring the companies that it will be renewed on time.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting comments on whether African countries eligible for the African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits should continue to be eligible for AGOA in 2026. (Congress has to renew AGOA before then, as the whole program expires at the end of September.)
The head of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said that Africans who are worried about the possible end of the African Growth and Opportunity Act should remember that it's not just their countries that are losing trade access.