Haiti needs trade bill now, Graham urges

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Larry Lipman

Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Thursday, September 23, 2004

WASHINGTON — With hundreds of Haitians dead in the wake of Hurricane Jeanne, a trade preference bill that has been languishing for months is even more urgently needed, a congressional panel was told Wednesday.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, told the House trade subcommittee that the storm further demonstrated the fragility of Haiti's economy — already the poorest in the Western Hemisphere — and the need to give it a permanent boost.

The senators warned that unless Haiti's economy is stabilized, more refugees could attempt to flee to the United States, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.

Graham and DeWine are the authors of a bill that would grant duty-free entry to apparel items assembled in Haiti. The bill, unanimously passed by the Senate in July, is similar to one passed by Congress earlier this year giving duty-free status to much of Africa.

more: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper/2004/09/23/a9a_grahamhaiti_0923.html

[el_gato]

1. How about the U.S. and France stop raping Haiti

That would go a long way to alleviating Haiti's situation.

[el_gato]

2. As if Haiti needs our "help" - this is what they really get

Farmers forced out as global brands build Haiti free-trade area
By Jacqui Goddard, Ouanaminthe, Haiti, The Sunday Times, 6 July 2003

Farmer Jean Eugene gazes wistfully through the tall wire fence that has been built across his Caribbean farmland, shaking his head as he reflects on the bad fortune it represents for his family.

Just weeks ago, his fields were rich with corn and vegetables—treasured assets in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. But then the bulldozers arrived. Mr Eugene’s crops were ripped from the soil by government contractors and he has been barred from his own land to make way for the construction of an industrial Free Trade Zone (FTZ) that will house cheap-labour factories producing clothes for leading brands including Levi’s, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss.

"This is a crime against humanity", says Mr Eugene, 43, whose elderly father was chased away by armed Haitian police when he tried to access the plot to pick ripened mangoes from a tree.

"While these big companies are getting rich, we will be struggling to even feed ourselves. Planting crops is how we survive here—our life comes from the earth. We cannot eat rocks and cement, we need plantains and corn."

[Mika]

3. Clarification of coupster ops for anti labor US textile manufacturers

Protection of offshore outsourcing by US companies?


Aid for Haitian textile trade faces opposition
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/9736936.htm

WASHINGTON - A bill that would give Haitian textile manufacturers duty-free access to the U.S. market ran into opposition in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, with Democrats and labor and industry groups voicing reservations over its benefits, especially its labor provisions.

''We can't just hire human beings for the least amount of money,'' said Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., during a hearing on the bill in the House Ways and Means Committee.

Haiti has signed the International Labor Organization convention that guarantees rights for workers, but Rangel said that was not enough. ``Nobody should be impressed with . . . standards. That's a minimum.''

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The objections could mean delays for the House bill just 100 days before the U.S. government is scheduled to eliminate import quotas affecting Chinese producers, potentially enticing producers to relocate from Haiti and other Caribbean nations to the Far East.

The bill would grant duty-free entry to the United States for apparel articles assembled in Haiti. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, told the Committee that it was in the U.S. national interest to support Haiti, which has seen U.S. troops intervene twice in the last decade to quell political violence .

More.. (free reg req)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/9736936.htm