Albright advises Bolivia not to expect easing of
U.S. textile tariffs
United Press International - August 18, 2000 20:41
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By ELI J. LAKE
LA PAZ, Bolivia, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright on Friday praised Bolivia's progress in eradicating coca fields, but
cautioned that it would be difficult to relax U.S. trade restrictions on Bolivian
textiles, an industry the South American country hopes will help replace the
revenue they have lost due to its recent drug war.
"I feel the United States is making a fairly large contribution here, to recognize
the importance not only of Bolivia but of what Bolivia has been doing to help
deal with the most complex problem of our time in terms of our society, which
is narco-trafficking," Albright said at a news conference at the Bolivian Foreign
Ministry in the capital, La Paz.
Since 1998 Bolivia has eradicated more than 50 percent of its coca crop, the
plant used to manufacture cocaine. Gen. Hugo Banzer Suarez, Bolivia's elected
president and its military dictator during the 1970s, has pledged to rid his
country of excess coca plants by the year 2002.
But meeting this goal will be politically difficult. Demonstrations and protests
have been weekly occurrences in La Paz in recent months. Bolivia is the
second-poorest nation in Latin America, with an annual growth rate of 2.5
percent and average per-capita income of $1,036 a year. Banzer's finance
minister, Ronald McLean, estimated the country's economy has forgone $500
million in lost drug revenues this year alone. And some members of the Bolivian
Congress, such as human rights activist Evo Morales, have pressured Banzer to
lift the restrictions on coca production.
Some believe that textile exports to the United States could ease the transition
from a drug-based economy to a legitimate one. The United States is
landlocked Bolivia's No. 1 trading partner, but while it has favorable trade
status for a number of exports, Washington levies tariffs of 16 to 26 percent on
Bolivian textiles.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., has sponsored two bills in the Senate this year to
ease the Bolivian textile tariffs, but both initiatives stalled. Two of Bolivia's
largest newspapers, La Razon and La Prensa, had reported Friday that the
tariffs would be a key issue at Banzer's meeting with Albright.
The secretary of state said the issue of textile imports had indeed come up, but
she also threw cold water on the prospects of tariff reductions being signed into
law, particularly before the end of the year.
"We have considerable work to do on trade relations generally and we will
continue to work, as I said, on trade relations with Bolivia, including the textile
issues, but I must tell you this is a complex problem," Albright said.
In some ways, Bolivia is late to the party in calling for textile-trade restrictions
in the Western Hemisphere. Textiles from Mexico and Canada are not
assessed tariffs in the U.S. market because of the North American Free Trade
Agreement. The Caribbean Basin Initiative, a similar trade deal, makes almost
all Central American and Caribbean textiles virtually tariff-free in the United
States.
One State Department official said Bolivia would be better served by
developing its natural-gas resources and building pipelines to neighboring Chile,
Brazil and Argentina.
Albright said Friday that the United States has been generous to the Bolivian
government, by forgiving $450 million of its debt to Washington between 1991
and 1998. Bolivia is also eligible to receive this year $1 billion in debt relief
from the Group of Eight, which comprises the world's leading industrialized
nations and Russia. A U.S.-backed program to fight drug production in
Colombia sends $110 million a year to Bolivia. (An additional $115 million was
allocated this year.)
Foreign Minister Jorge Quiroga Ramirez said it is possible Bolivia's share of the
$1.3 billion U.S. package to restore order and combat drug trafficking in
Colombia may not be enough, but "in any case its an indication of a very
favorable trend in the fight against drugs."
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Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
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