Obama Makes AGOA Beneficiary Changes, Extends Duty-Free Access to Israeli Ag
The White House cut South Sudan and The Gambia from African Growth and Opportunity Act preferences through executive action on Dec. 23, but restored AGOA preferential status for Guinea-Bissau after two years of suspended benefits (here). South Sudan and The Gambia are not making the necessary progress to meet U.S. eligibility requirements, said President Barack Obama in a formal proclamation. Their benefits will be axed on Jan. 1, 2015.
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Obama did not speak specifically to the criteria South Sudan and The Gambia failed to meet, nor did he elaborate on which improvements Guinea-Bissau made to reinstate its benefits in AGOA. The preference program is due for expiration in September 2015. Industry pushed lawmakers to renew AGOA legislation before 2015, but neither chamber of Congress has made a serious attempt to do so. The day Congress departed the Capitol, the likely Senate Finance Subcommittee on Trade chairman in the next Congress, Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., labeled AGOA renewal a central priority for trade in the coming months (see 1412170024)
In the same proclamation, Obama took executive action to do the following:
- The U.S. extends preferences for some Israeli agricultural products through Dec. 31, 2015. In the extension year period, the Obama administration aims to finalize an agreement involving those products, which the two sides initially put into force in 2004. That agreement falls under the U.S.-Israel free trade pact.
- The U.S. will implement International Trade Commission-recommended changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, revisions the White House says will have little or no economic impact on any industry. The ITC sent the recommendations to Congress in mid-2013. Among other purposes, the changes are necessary to correct a technical error in the U.S. free trade agreement with Bahrain.