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Senate Approves Pakistan Aid Bill Without Trade Preferences

September 28, 2009
World Trade\Interactive

The Senate approved Sept. 24 legislation to provide economic and other assistance to Pakistan, but the bill did not include new trade preferences for goods imported from designated Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. President Obama has specifically indicated support for this measure, however, and supporters say they will work to push through a stand-alone ROZ bill or add it to a trade preference program extension bill expected later this fall.

The Senate-passed legislation represented a compromise between bills approved earlier this year in the House and Senate. The House bill included a provision allowing the president to designate areas within Afghanistan or Pakistan as ROZs if specified eligibility criteria are met. Preferential treatment would be extended to goods designated as eligible under the Generalized System of Preferences from either beneficiary or least-developed beneficiary countries, as well as specified textile and apparel articles, and would be available through Sept. 30, 2024. However, business groups and Senate Republicans said various revisions were needed, including (a) extending duty-free treatment to a wider range of goods, (b) expanding the areas in Pakistan eligible to use the ROZ program, and (c) easing labor-related requirements.