GAO: U.S. trade preference programs require improved evaluation

A congressional watchdog report has found the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and other agencies must do a better job at coordinating their reviews on the effectiveness of various trade preference programs.

Trade preference programs have proliferated over time, becoming more complex, but neither Congress nor the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee that manages the programs has formally considered them as a whole, said the Government Accountability Office in a report released Tuesday.

Trade preference programs allow companies to import goods duty free from certain approved countries. Some of the most noted programs are the Generalized System on Preferences, Caribbean Basin Initiative, Andean Trade Preference Act, and African Growth and Opportunities Act. These programs cover goods from more than 130 countries.

Three of the programs are due to expire either partially or in full by the end of the year, and Congress is exploring options as it considers their renewal.

Congress should consider whether trade preference programs' review and reporting requirements may be better integrated to facilitate evaluating progress in meeting shared economic development goals, the GAO report said.

Source: American Shipper