International Trade
Options for Congressional Consideration to Improve U.S. Trade Preference Programs Gao ID: GAO-10-262T November 17, 2009U.S. trade preference programs promote economic development in poorer nations by providing duty-free export opportunities in the United States. The Generalized System of Preferences, Caribbean Basin Initiative, Andean Trade Preference Act, and African Growth and Opportunity Act unilaterally reduce U.S. tariffs for many products from over 130 countries. However, two of these programs expire partially or in full this year, and Congress is exploring options as it considers renewal. This testimony describes the growth in preference program imports, identifies policy trade-offs, and summarizes the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations and options suggested by a panel of experts on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The testimony is based on studies issued in September 2007, March 2008, and August 2009. For those studies, GAO analyzed trade data, reviewed trade literature and program documents, interviewed U.S. officials, did fieldwork in nine countries, and convened a panel of experts.
Total U.S. preference imports grew from $20 billion in 1992 to $110 billion in 2008, with most of this growth taking place since 2000. The increases from preference program countries primarily reflect the addition of new eligible products, increased petroleum imports from some African countries, and the rapid growth of exports from countries such as India, Thailand, and Brazil. Preference programs give rise to three critical policy trade-offs. First, opportunities for beneficiary countries to export products duty free must be balanced against U.S. industry interests. Some products of importance to developing countries, notably agriculture and apparel, are ineligible by statute as a result. Second, some developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia, are not included in U.S. regional preference programs; however, there is concern that they are already competitive in marketing apparel to the United States and that giving them greater duty-free access could harm the apparel industry in Africa and elsewhere. Third, Congress faces a trade-off between longer preference program renewals, which may encourage investment, and shorter renewals, which may provide leverage to encourage countries to act in accordance with U.S. interests such as trade liberalization. GAO reported in March 2008 that preference programs have proliferated and become increasingly complex, which has contributed to a lack of systematic review. Moreover, we found that there was little to no reporting on the impact of these programs. In addition, GAO solicited options from a panel of experts in June 2009 for improving the competitiveness of the textile and apparel sector in AGOA countries. Options they suggested included aligning trade capacity building with trade preference programs, modifying rules of origin to facilitate joint production among trade preference program beneficiaries and free trade partners, and creating non-punitive and voluntary incentives to encourage the use of inputs from the United States or its trade preference partners to stimulate investment in beneficiary countries.
GAO-10-262T, International Trade: Options for Congressional Consideration to Improve U.S. Trade Preference Programs
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on Trade, Committee on Ways and Means, House of
Representatives:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery:
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST:
Tuesday, November 17, 2009:
International Trade:
Options for Congressional Consideration to Improve U.S. Trade
Preference Programs:
Statement of Loren Yager:
Director, International Affairs and Trade:
GAO-10-262T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-10-262T, a testimony before the Subcommittee for
Trade, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives.
Why GAO Did This Study:
U.S. trade preference programs promote economic development in poorer
nations by providing duty-free export opportunities in the United
States. The Generalized System of Preferences, Caribbean Basin
Initiative, Andean Trade Preference Act, and African Growth and
Opportunity Act unilaterally reduce U.S. tariffs for many products from
over 130 countries. However, two of these programs expire partially or
in full this year, and Congress is exploring options as it considers
renewal. This testimony describes the growth in preference program
imports, identifies policy trade-offs, and summarizes GAO
recommendations and options suggested by a panel of experts on the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The testimony is based on
studies issued in September 2007, March 2008, and August 2009. For
those studies, GAO analyzed trade data, reviewed trade literature and
program documents, interviewed U.S. officials, did fieldwork in nine
countries, and convened a panel of experts.
What GAO Found:
Total U.S. preference imports grew from $20 billion in 1992 to $110
billion in 2008, with most of this growth taking place since 2000. The
increases from preference program countries primarily reflect the
addition of new eligible products, increased petroleum imports from
some African countries, and the rapid growth of exports from countries
such as India, Thailand, and Brazil.
Preference programs give rise to three critical policy trade-offs.
First, opportunities for beneficiary countries to export products duty
free must be balanced against U.S. industry interests. Some products of
importance to developing countries, notably agriculture and apparel,
are ineligible by statute as a result. Second, some developing
countries, such as Bangladesh and Cambodia, are not included in U.S.
regional preference programs; however, there is concern that they are
already competitive in marketing apparel to the United States and that
giving them greater duty-free access could harm the apparel industry in
Africa and elsewhere. Third, Congress faces a trade-off between longer
preference program renewals, which may encourage investment, and
shorter renewals, which may provide leverage to encourage countries to
act in accordance with U.S. interests such as trade liberalization.
GAO reported in March 2008 that preference programs have proliferated
and become increasingly complex, which has contributed to a lack of
systematic review. Moreover, we found that there was little to no
reporting on the impact of these programs. In addition, GAO solicited
options from a panel of experts in June 2009 for improving the
competitiveness of the textile and apparel sector in AGOA countries.
Options they suggested included aligning trade capacity building with
trade preference programs, modifying rules of origin to facilitate
joint production among trade preference program beneficiaries and free
trade partners, and creating non-punitive and voluntary incentives to
encourage the use of inputs from the United States or its trade
preference partners to stimulate investment in beneficiary countries.
Figure: Growth of Trade Programs over Time:
[Refer to PDF for image: illustration]
1975: GSP;
1983: CBI;
1996: LDC; ATPA;
2000: AGOA; CBTPA;
2002: ATPDEA;
2006: HOPE.
AGOA: African Growth and Opportunity Act;
ATPA: Andean Trade Preference Act;
ATPDEA: Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act;
CBI: Caribbean Basin Initiative;
CBTPA: Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act;
GSP: Generalized System of Preferences;
HOPE: Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement
Act;
LDC: Expanded GSP for Least-developed Country.
Source: GAO analysis of USTR documents on Generalized System of
Preferences, African Growth and Opportunity Act,Andean Trade Preference
Act, and Caribbean Basin Initiative.
[End of figure]
What GAO Recommends:
In the March 2008 report, GAO recommended that the U.S. Trade
Representative review beneficiary countries that have not been
considered under the regional programs, and periodically consider
preference programs jointly. In response, USTR officials told us that
the relevant agencies will meet at least annually. USTR also changed
its annual report to discuss the preference programs in one place.
View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-262T] or key
components. For more information, contact Loren Yager at (202) 512-4347
or yagerl@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to be here today to discuss our work on U.S. trade
preference programs. Over the last 2 years, GAO has completed three in-
depth studies on U.S. preference programs for this Committee and the
Senate Committee on Finance.[Footnote 1] We believe this hearing
provides an opportunity for Congress and the administration to review
the progress and performance of these programs as a group and consider
potential opportunities to improve them. As a number of the preference
programs are scheduled to expire by the end of the current calendar
year, this discussion will allow for consideration of some of the
difficult questions that have been posed in the past by members of this
Committee.
In order to contribute to that discussion, I will address three topics.
First, I will provide some background on the programs and on recent
import trends. Second, I will outline some of the key trade-offs
between various domestic and foreign interests that are inevitable in
the design of preference programs. Finally, I will summarize some of
the recommendations we have provided regarding preferences programs as
well as some of the options that experts suggested to GAO that we
included in our most recent report to Congress on the African Growth
and Opportunity Act.
My remarks are based on the three studies noted above, and informed by
our on-going work in fulfillment of a congressional mandate on the
Haiti Earned Import Allowance Program.[Footnote 2] We conducted our
work on the cited studies from March 2007 to July 2009 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards and GAO's quality
assurance framework, as applicable. Those standards require that we
plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence
to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on
our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives.
Background:
In an effort to promote and achieve various U.S. foreign policy
objectives, Congress has expanded trade preference programs in number
and scope over the past 3 decades. The purpose of these programs is to
foster economic development through increased trade with qualified
beneficiary countries while not harming U.S. domestic producers. Trade
preference programs extend unilateral tariff reductions to over 130
developing countries. Currently, the United States offers the
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) [Footnote 3] and three regional
programs, the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI),[Footnote 4] the Andean
Trade Preference Act (ATPA),[Footnote 5] and the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA). Special preferences for Haiti became part of
CBI with enactment of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through
Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act in December 2006. The regional
programs cover additional products but have more extensive criteria for
participation than the GSP program. Eight agencies have key roles in
administering U.S. trade preference programs. Led by the United States
Trade Representative (USTR), they include the Departments of
Agriculture, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor, State, and Treasury,
as well as the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
U.S. imports from countries benefiting from U.S. preference programs
have increased significantly over the past decade. Total U.S.
preference imports grew from $20 billion in 1992 to $110 billion in
2008. Most of this growth in U.S. imports from preference countries has
taken place since 2000. This accelerated growth suggests an
expansionary effect of increased product coverage and liberalized rules
of origin for least-developed countries (LDC) under GSP in 1996 and for
African countries under AGOA in 2000. In particular, much of the growth
since 2000 is due to imports of petroleum from certain oil producing
nations in Africa, accounting for 79.5 percent of total imports from
Sub-Saharan Africa in 2008. For example, in that same year, U.S.
imports from the oil producing:
countries of Nigeria grew by 16.2 percent, Angola by 51.2 percent, and
the Republic of Congo by 65.2 percent.
Figure 1: Trends in U.S Preference Import Levels (1992-2008):
[Refer PDF for image: multiple line graph]
Year: 1992;
GSP: $16.77 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $0.97 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $1.53 billion.
Year: 1993;
GSP: $19.59 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $0.4 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $1.9 billion.
Year: 1994;
GSP: $18.39 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $0.98 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $2.05 billion.
Year: 1995;
GSP: $18.46 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $0.93 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $2.61 billion.
Year: 1996;
GSP: $16.92 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1.27 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $2.79 billion.
Year: 1997;
GSP: $15.78 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1.35 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $3.2 billion.
Year: 1998;
GSP: $16.34 billion;
AGOA: $0v
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1.64 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $3.22 billion.
Year: 1999;
GSP: $13.68 billion;
AGOA: $0v
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1.75 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $2.64 billion.
Year: 2000;
GSP: $16.44 billion;
AGOA: $0 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1.98 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $2.79 billion.
Year: 2001;
GSP: $15.73 billion;
AGOA: $7.58 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1.67 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $8.3 billion.
Year: 2002;
GSP: $17.66 billion;
AGOA: $8.36 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $1 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $9.99 billion.
Year: 2003;
GSP: $21.28 billion;
AGOA: $13.19v
ATPA/ATPDEA: $5.83 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $10.42 billion.
Year: 2004;
GSP: $22.71 billion;
AGOA: $21.99 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $8.35 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $10.81 billion.
Year: 2005;
GSP: $26.75 billion;
AGOA: $32.65 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $11.4 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $12.1 billion.
Year: 2006;
GSP: $32.6 billion;
AGOA: $36.13 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $13.48 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $9.915 billion.
Year: 2007;
GSP: $30.85 billion;
AGOA: $42.26 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $12.39 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $5.5 billion.
Year: 2008;
GSP: $31.66 billion;
AGOA: $56.37 billion;
ATPA/ATPDEA: $17.24 billion;
CBI/CBTPA: $4.72 billion.
Source: GAO analysis of U.S. official trade statistics, based on
preferences claimed upon entry.
Note: Values of imports are expressed in nominal dollars, not adjusted
for inflation.
[End of figure]
There is also evidence that leading suppliers under U.S. preference
programs have "arrived" as global exporters. For example, based on a
World Trade Organization (WTO) study in 2007,[Footnote 6] the three
leading non-fuel suppliers of U.S. preference imports--India, Thailand,
and Brazil--were among the top 20 exporters in the world, and were also
major suppliers to the U.S. market. Exports from these three countries
also grew faster than world exports as a whole. However, these
countries have not reached World Bank "high income" level criteria, as
they range from "low" to "upper middle" levels of income.
GSP--the longest standing U.S. preference program--expires December 31,
2009, as do ATPA benefits. At the same time, legislative proposals to
provide additional, targeted benefits for the poorest countries are
pending.
Critical Policy Trade-offs among U.S. Consumers, Producers, and Foreign
Beneficiaries Are Inherent in Preference Programs:
Preference programs entail a number of difficult policy trade-offs. For
example, the programs are designed to offer duty-free access to the
U.S. market to increase beneficiary trade, but only to the extent that
access does not harm U.S. industries. U.S. preference programs provide
duty-free treatment for over half of the 10,500 U.S. tariff lines, in
addition to those that are already duty-free on a most favored nation
basis. But they also exclude many other products from duty-free status,
including some that developing countries are capable of producing and
exporting. GAO's analysis showed that notable gaps in preference
program coverage remain, particularly in agricultural and apparel
products. For 48 GSP-eligible countries, more than three-fourths of the
value of U.S. imports that are subject to duties (i.e., are dutiable)
are not included in the programs. For example, just 1 percent of
Bangladesh's dutiable exports to the United States and 4 percent of
Pakistan's are eligible for GSP. Although regional preference programs
tend to have more generous coverage, they sometimes feature "caps" on
the amount of imports that can enter duty-free, which may significantly
limit market access. Imports subject to caps under AGOA include certain
meat products, a large number of dairy products, many sugar products,
chocolate, a range of prepared food products, certain tobacco products,
and groundnuts (peanuts), the latter being of particular importance to
some African countries.
A second, related, trade-off involves deciding which developing
countries can enjoy particular preferential benefits. A few LDCs in
Asia are not included in the U.S. regional preference programs,
although they are eligible for GSP-LDC benefits. Two of these
countries--Bangladesh and Cambodia--have become major exporters of
apparel to the United States and have complained about the lack of duty-
free access for their goods. African private-sector representatives
have raised concerns that giving preferential access to Bangladesh and
Cambodia for apparel might endanger the nascent African apparel export
industry that has grown up under AGOA. Certain U.S. industries have
joined African nations in opposing the idea of extending duty-free
access for apparel from these countries, arguing these nations are
already so competitive in exporting to the United States that in
combination they surpass U.S. free trade agreement partners Mexico and
those in CAFTA, as well as those in the Andean/AGOA regions.
This trade-off concerning what countries to include also involves
decisions regarding the graduation of countries or products from the
programs. The original intention of preference programs was to provide
temporary trade advantages to particular developing countries, which
would eventually become unnecessary as countries became more
competitive. Specifically, the GSP program has mechanisms to limit duty-
free benefits by "graduating" countries that are no longer considered
to need preferential treatment, based on income and competitiveness
criteria. Since 1989, at least 28 countries have been graduated from
GSP, mainly as a result of "mandatory" graduation criteria such as high
income status or joining the European Union. Five countries in the
Central American and Caribbean region were recently removed from GSP
and CBI/CBTPA when they entered into free trade agreements with the
United States. In addition to country graduation, the United States GSP
program also includes a process for ending duty-free access for
individual products from a given country by means of import ceilings--
Competitive Needs Limitations (CNL). These ceilings are reached when
eligible products from GSP beneficiaries exceed specified value and
import market share thresholds (LDCs and AGOA beneficiaries are
exempt). Amendments to the GSP in 1984 gave the President the power to
issue (or revoke) waivers for CNL thresholds under certain
circumstances, for example through a petition from an interested party,
or when total U.S. imports from all countries of a product are small or
"de minimis." In 2006 Congress passed legislation affecting when the
President should revoke certain CNL waivers for so called "super
competitive" products. In 2007, the President revoked eight CNL
waivers.
Policymakers face a third trade-off in setting the duration of
preferential benefits in authorizing legislation. Preference
beneficiaries and U.S. businesses that import from them agree that
longer and more predictable renewal periods for program benefits are
desirable. Private-sector and foreign government representatives have
stated that short program renewal periods discourage longer-term
productive investments that might be made to take advantage of
preferences, such as factories or agribusiness ventures. Members of
Congress have recognized this argument with respect to Africa and, in
December 2006, Congress renewed AGOA's third-country fabric provisions
until 2012 and AGOA's general provisions until 2015. However, some U.S.
officials believe that periodic program expirations can be useful as
leverage to encourage countries to act in accordance with U.S.
interests such as global and bilateral trade liberalization.
Furthermore, making preferences permanent may deepen resistance to U.S.
calls for developing country recipients to lower barriers to trade in
their own markets. Global and bilateral trade liberalization is a
primary U.S. trade policy objective, based on the premise that
increased trade flows will support economic growth for the United
States and other countries. Spokesmen for countries that benefit from
trade preferences have told us that any agreement reached under the
Doha round of global trade talks at the WTO must, at a minimum, provide
a significant transition period to allow beneficiary countries to
adjust to the loss of preferences.[Footnote 7]
Potential Areas of Improvement for U.S. Trade Preference Programs:
Proliferation of Preference Programs Has Led to a Need for a More
Integrated Approach:
GAO found that preference programs have proliferated over time and have
become increasingly complex, which has contributed to a lack of
systematic review. In response to differing statutory requirements,
agencies involved in implementing trade preferences pursue different
approaches to monitoring the various criteria set for these programs.
We observed advantages to each approach but individual program reviews
appeared disconnected and resulted in gaps. For example, some countries
that passed review under regional preference programs were later
subject to GSP complaints. Moreover, we found that there was little to
no reporting on the impact of these programs. To address these issues,
GAO recommended that USTR periodically review beneficiary countries, in
particular those that have not been considered under GSP or regional
programs. Additionally, we recommended that USTR should periodically
convene relevant agencies to discuss the programs jointly.
In our March 2008 report, we also noted that even though there is
overlap in various aspects of trade preference programs, Congress
generally considers these programs separately, partly because they have
disparate termination dates. As a result, we suggested that Congress
should consider whether trade preference programs' review and reporting
requirements may be better integrated to facilitate evaluating progress
in meeting shared economic development goals.
In response to the recommendations discussed above, USTR officials told
us that the relevant agencies will meet at least annually to consider
ways to improve program administration, to evaluate the programs'
effectiveness jointly, and to identify any lessons learned. USTR has
also changed the format of its annual report to discuss the preference
programs in one place. In addition, we believe that Congressional
hearings in 2007 and 2008 and again today are responsive to the need to
consider these programs in an integrated fashion.
Experts Provided a Range of Options for Improving AGOA:
In addition to the recommendations based on GAO analysis, we also
solicited options from a panel of experts convened by GAO in June 2009
to discuss ways to improve the competitiveness of the textile and
apparel sector in AGOA beneficiary countries. While the options were
developed in the context of AGOA, many of these may be applicable to
trade preferences programs in general.
* Align Trade Capacity Building with Trade Preferences Programs: Many
developing countries have expressed concern about their inability to
take advantage of trade preferences because they lack the capacity to
participate in international trade. AGOA is the only preference program
for which authorizing legislation refers to trade capacity building
assistance; however, funding for this type of assistance is not
provided under the Act.[Footnote 8] In the course of our research on
the textile and apparel inputs industry in Sub-Saharan African
countries, many experts we consulted considered trade capacity building
a key component for improving the competitiveness of this sector.
* Modify Rules of Origin among Trade Preference Program Beneficiaries
and Free Trade Partners: Some African governments and industry
representatives of the textile and apparel inputs industry in Sub-
Saharan African countries suggested modifying rules of origin
provisions under other U.S. trade preference programs or free trade
agreements to provide duty-free access for products that use AGOA
textile and apparel inputs. Similarly, they suggested simplifying AGOA
rules of origin to allow duty-free access for certain partially
assembled apparel products with components originating outside the
region.
* Create Non-Punitive and Voluntary Incentives: Some of the experts we
consulted believe that the creation of non-punitive[Footnote 9] and
voluntary incentives to encourage the use of inputs from the United
States or its trade preference partners could stimulate investment in
beneficiary countries. One example of the incentives discussed was the
earned import allowance programs currently in use for Haiti and the
Dominican Republic. Such an incentive program allows producers to
export certain amounts of apparel to the U.S., duty free, made from
third-country fabric, provided they import specified volumes of U.S.
fabric.[Footnote 10] Another proposal put forth by industry
representatives was for a similar "duty credit" program for AGOA
beneficiaries. A simplified duty credit program would create a non-
punitive incentive for use of African regional fabric. For example, a
U.S. firm that imports jeans made with African origin denim would earn
a credit to import a certain amount of jeans from Bangladesh, duty
free. However, some experts indicated that the application of these
types of incentives should be considered in the context of each trade
preference program, as they have specific differences that may not make
them applicable across preference programs.
While these options were suggested by experts in the context of a
discussion on the African Growth and Opportunity Act, many of these
options may be helpful in considering ways to further improve the full
range of preference programs as many GSP LDCs face many of the same
challenges as the poorer African nations. Some of the options presented
would require legislative action while others could be implemented
administratively.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to summarize the work GAO
has done on the subject of preference programs. I would be happy to
answer any questions that you or other members of the subcommittee may
have.
GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments:
For further information on this testimony, please contact Loren Yager
at (202) 512-4347, or by e-mail at yagerl@gao.gov. Juan Gobel,
Assistant Director; Gezahegne Bekele; Ken Bombara; Karen Deans;
Francisco Enriquez; R. Gifford Howland; Ernie Jackson; and Brian
Tremblay made key contributions to this statement.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] GAO, U.S.-Africa Trade: Options for Congressional Consideration to
Improve Textile and Apparel Sector Competitiveness under the African
Growth and Opportunity Act, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-916] (Washington, D.C. : August 12,
2009); GAO, International Trade: U.S. Trade Preference Programs Provide
Important Benefits, but a More Integrated Approach Would Better Ensure
Programs Meet Shared Goals, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-443] (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 7,
2008); and GAO, International Trade: An Overview of Use of U.S. Trade
Preference Programs by Beneficiaries and U.S. Administrative Reviews,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-1209] (Washington, D.C.:
Sept. 27, 2007).
[2] In response to the statutory mandate in the Haitian Hemispheric
Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008 (HOPE II),
Title XV of P.L. 110-234, GAO is conducting a review of the Earned
Import Allowance Program for Haiti.
[3] In 1996, the number of duty-free tariff lines offered under GSP was
expanded to provide additional benefits to beneficiary least-developed
countries (LDC).
[4] In 2000, CBI was expanded by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership
Act (CBTPA).
[5] In 2002, ATPA was expanded by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug
Eradication Act (ATPDEA).
[6] For additional information, see WTO, World Trade 2007, Prospects
for 2008: Developing, Transition Economies Cushion Trade Slowdown,
Press Release No. 520, Apr. 17, 2008, p. 19.
[7] For additional information on these issues see [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-443] and [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-1209].
[8] For additional information on trade capacity building see GAO-09-
916.
[9] The non-punitive focus of this suggestion is a direct response to
the negative results of the previously implemented "abundant supply"
provision in AGOA. (See GAO-09-916 for more detail.)
[10] The earned import allowance programs for Haiti and the Dominican
Republic vary in some aspects, for example a 3 for 1 ratio of qualified
inputs to earned credits is used for Haiti, while a 2 for 1 ratio is
used for the Dominican Republic.
[End of section]
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