The House Ways and Means Committee approved Feb. 14 by voice vote legislation that would extend the Andean Trade Preference Act through Dec. 31. A committee press release noted that the full House is expected to consider the measure during the week of Feb. 25. It is unclear whether both the House and Senate will be able to act on the bill before ATPA preferences for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru expire Feb. 29.
The bill approved by the committee (H.R. 5264) is a stripped-down version of the measure introduced Feb. 7 by Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. Rangel had proposed to extend all three of the trade preference programs scheduled to expire this year – the ATPA, the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act and the Generalized System of Preferences – through Sept. 30, 2010. The original bill would also have made certain amendments to the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
World Trade/Interactive
