New Report Urges Duty-free Access for Pakistan (Reuters)
President Nancy Birdsall was featured in a Reuters article about U.S. aid to Pakistan.
This article was also run by the following news outlets: The Express Tribune, Fox News, The Chicago Tribune,The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times.
From the Article
The United States should offer duty-free access to its markets for Pakistani exports, a new report says, declaring that trade might succeed where aid has not in developing a vibrant economy and stable partner.
The report by a study group convened by the Center for Global Development, an independent think-tank, was sharply critical of Washington's attempts to stabilize Pakistan with billions in economic aid, saying they were not delivering the desired results.
"The United States is way off course in Pakistan," said Nancy Birdsall, the center's president and lead author of the report.
U.S. officials and lawmakers are reviewing ties with Pakistan after the discovery of Osama bin Laden in a town about 50 km (30 miles) from the capital raised fresh doubts about Pakistan's reliability as an ally against militancy.
But the report said U.S. assistance to Pakistan should be mended instead of ended, with duty-free trade benefits added for at least five years to create a boost for Pakistan with "very little harm to workers in the United States."
The proposal is a politically dicey one, however. Less sweeping proposals for increasing Pakistan's access to U.S. markets have foundered in Congress in the recent past.
A bill sought by President Barack Obama to offer trade advantages in border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan stalled in the last session of Congress amid concerns about labor provisions and the impact on the U.S. textile industry. Textile and apparel industries account for much of Pakistan's economy.
"The American textile lobby is a very powerful special interest," said Sallie James, a trade analyst at the Cato Institute. "There is good reason to believe that the textile lobby would launch a strong lobbying campaign to keep this (duty-free access for Pakistani goods) from going through."
