Importers of apparel from Africa and exporters of auto parts, apparel, food and metal from South Africa are making the case to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act ahead of schedule, renew it for at least 10 years, if not 20, and, some are arguing directly, restore Ethiopia's eligibility.
Members of the Select Committee on China led a letter from 66 House members to the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, complaining that the expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program has benefited China and led importers who had capitalized on GSP to return to China.
Advocates for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, watching the lengthy expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, continue to say that renewal in 2023 rather than 2024 is necessary to retain manufacturing contracts, because businesses don't want to wait to see if the program continues in October 2025.
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Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced a bill designed to improve and modernize trade adjustment assistance programs, including "significantly higher funding levels and expanded eligibility," according to a summary provided by Blumenauer's office.
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Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who previously asked the administration to warn Uganda that its anti-gay law risked its continued participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (see 2304280060), is now calling on the administration to revoke Uganda's tariff breaks under AGOA. The law allows for the death penalty for gay sex with a minor, or for HIV-positive gay people having sex. It provides for up to 10 years in prison for asserting you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, nonbinary or transgender.
Very little of a hearing on customs modernization focused on the issues CBP and the trade have focused on as they work on a modernization proposal. The agency and traders are talking about new kinds of advance data, expedited release for trusted traders, better harmonization of data requests from partner government agencies and CBP, and data sharing from CBP with rights holders on intellectual property violations, among other changes.
Senate Finance International Trade Subcommittee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., said he would like to hold a future hearing on the Americas Act, a proposal from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to liberalize trade with Central American, Caribbean and South American countries (see 2301110045 and 2301130042), and to pay for grants and subsidized loans for countries reshoring or nearshoring out of China with changes to de minimis law. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is a co-sponsor of the bill.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative seeks comments in connection with its annual review of the eligibility of countries for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, USTR said. The agency will consider, among other things, whether to restore or revoke eligibility for sub-Saharan African countries covered by AGOA. Countries found ineligible for AGOA in 2023 include Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP; ineligible for consideration for AGOA benefits); Eritrea; Ethiopia; Guinea; Mali; Mauritania; Seychelles (graduated from GSP; ineligible for consideration for AGOA benefits); Somalia (requested consideration for AGOA benefits for the first time this year); South Sudan; Sudan (did not request designation as an AGOA beneficiary country); and Zimbabwe. USTR will hold a virtual public hearing on July 24. The deadline for requests to appear and for written comments is July 7.