29639: (news) Chamberlain: House passes trade bill for Vietnam, Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Missy Ryan

     WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Lawmakers narrowly approved a raft of
trade legislation on Friday to normalize trade ties with former enemy
Vietnam, expand trade preferences for dirt-poor Haiti, and renew duty
reductions for the Andean region and over 100 developing nations.
     The House of Representatives voted 212 to 184 for the trade package,
which is expected to go to the Senate this weekend as part of a larger tax
and energy package in an 11th-hour push to close the current Republican-led
Congress. [The Senate later approved the measure]
     "This legislation will help to create stronger trading partners for
the future, while also recognizing our responsibility ... to help
developing countries grow," Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, outgoing chairman
of the influential Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement.
     The measure grants Permanent Normal Trade Relations to fast-growing
Vietnam, 30 years after its war with the United States, but it comes late
for President George W. Bush, who arrived empty-handed at a Hanoi summit
last month after an initial PNTR vote failed.
     The legislation also broadens textile preferences for Haiti, allowing
it to increase duty-free exports to the United States of clothes that
aren't made with U.S. yarn and fabric.
     "We hope that ... we can send a signal to other countries to come to
the aid of this poor nation," said New York's Charles Rangel, a Democrat
who will head the Ways and Means Committee when Democrats take control of
Congress next year.
     But sharp opposition from southern-state Senators, like Elizabeth Dole
of North Carolina, to the proposed changes to Haiti trade threaten to slow
down the vote in the Senate.
     "It's a job-destroying bill," said Cass Johnson, president of the
National Council of Textile Organizations. The textile industry fears the
rules will squeeze out U.S. producers of yarn and fabric who supply Haiti's
apparel industry.
     U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab hailed Friday's vote, saying
increased trade had not only helped workers in poor countries but lowered
priced for U.S consumers.
     Many Democrats usually take a harder line on trade than their peers
across the aisle, and some U.S. industries hope Congress' new Democratic
leaders will be on their side, blocking deals some here fear will cost
American jobs.
     That could bode poorly for developing countries like Peru and
Colombia, which both signed bilateral trade pacts this year with
Washington. Approving those deals could be more difficult with Democrats
like Rangel insisting they be renegotiated to include stronger protection
for workers.
     Friday's package renews duty preferences for six months for four
Andean nations under the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act,
or ATPDEA, which is due to expire this month. It grants another six months
only to countries with bilateral trade deals in place with Washington.
     The House also extended for two years the Generalized System of
Preferences, another duty program that expires this month. Some lawmakers
had argued it was time to cut off more prosperous countries from a program
created to help the world's poorest countries. Nations like Brazil and
India have also emerged as opponents to the United States in trade talks.
    The bill also extends preferences to African nations.