Victor Fazio: “I rise in support of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This legislation promises to diverge from the United States…”

“I rise in support of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This legislation promises to diverge from the United States historical role of provider to Africa and establish instead a bilateral agreement for trade. Trade promises growth in our country's economy and in the nations of Sub-Sahara Africa. However, I would also like to take opportunity to raise concerns that industries in my district have voiced. The African Growth and Opportunity Act provides opportunity for free trade but doesn't protect some of our product-sensitive industries quite enough. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and free trade area preference provisions of the Sub-Sahara African trade bill pose special concerns for the California cling peach industry because of the possibility that under those provisions, duty-free access might be extended to South Africa and other competitive African producers of cling peach products. Even with existing U.S. tariff rates, South Africa is already a low-cost, choice quality supplier of canned peaches, fruit mixtures and other cling peach products to U.S. markets. We must ensure that South Africa will not sell their products at a significantly lower price than U.S. products at the expense of our farmers and processors. The California cling peach industry's product sensitivity is undisputed. The industry has long suffered the adverse effects of canned fruit subsidies provided by the European Union.”