The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are regional trade deals that could have adverse trade and growth effects on excluded poor countries. US trade policy already discriminates against exports from poor Asian countries; the TPP would make things worse, for example, by giving preference to Vietnam’s exports over Cambodia’s. Regional agreements can also undermine the World Trade Organization and the global system that protects smaller, weaker developing countries.
The United States can help ensure that poor countries are not left behind. This brief suggests three policy changes that Congress and President Obama should embrace:
- Strengthen the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Congress should strengthen AGOA by providing a long-term extension well before its 2015 expiration, expanding access for agricultural products, and working with the administration to implement innovative capacity-building mechanisms.
- Provide duty-free, quota-free market access. Congress should address US trade discrimination against poor Asian exporters by providing duty-free, quota-free market access for imports from all least developed countries.
- Declare a Doha Victory and Move On. The administration could then leverage this market opening to salvage something from the Doha Round at the WTO ministerial meeting in Bali in December.
