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Lawmaker to back CAFTA after winning textile fix
Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:57 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker said on Monday he expected to vote for a new free-trade pact with Central America after the Bush administration resolved three issues that some textile-state lawmakers feared could open the door to more imports from China.
U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman "has done a terrific job in understanding our concerns and working to fix the agreement," Rep. Bob Inglis said in statement.
Inglis, a South Carolina Republican, is one of three textile-state Republicans expected to announce their support for the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, at a news conference scheduled for late Monday afternoon. The others are Reps. Spencer Bachus and Michael Rogers of Alabama.
The House of Representatives is poised to vote on the agreement by Thursday. The Bush administration is predicting victory but still scrambling to round up the votes it needs.
CAFTA tears down trade barriers between the United States, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.
Many textile-state lawmakers have opposed CAFTA, even though the Bush administration says it would help the U.S. and the Central American industry compete against China.
Inglis said the Bush administration has addressed his concerns by:
--securing a commitment that pockets used in clothes that qualify for duty-free U.S. treatment under the pact only will come from one of the CAFTA countries and not from China.
--making assurances that "cumulation provisions" with Mexico will be delayed until Mexico's customs procedures have improved enough to ensure it will not be a conduit for Chinese fabric to illegally enter the United States, and also promising cumulation will not be extended to other countries.
--negotiating an agreement that ensures a special provision to allow Nicaragua to use third-country fabric under CAFTA will not hurt sales of U.S. fabric to Nicaragua. However, the volume of third-country fabric that qualifies for the duty-free treatment will stay at 100 million square meters for 10 years instead of being phased out.


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