Business Day (Johannesburg) | November 1, 1999 | By Simon Barber
Washington - Increased African access to the US market, seemingly killed by Senate Democrats, has one more shot at being enacted this week after an 11th-hour compromise, with authenticity of which remains in question.
Ignoring the pleas of President Bill Clinton, all 40 of his Democrats present to vote, joined by six Republicans, cast their ballots on Friday against a trade liberalisation package which included the House-passed African Growth and Opportunity Act and increased preferences for nations in the Caribbean basin.
The vote was technically on whether to end a filibuster mounted by Sen Fritz Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat determined to protect his state's ailing textile industry from foreign competition.
The Senate's Africa bill would end tariffs on African clothing so long as it is made with US fabric, but that benefit-destroying proviso, not contained in the House version, is widely expected to be liberalised in a final House-Senate compromise to include African fabric. That would be an important benefit for SA textile makers.
Friday's tally was 45, all Republican, in favour of shutting Hollings down, and 46 against, far short of the 60/40 needed to shut down filibusters under the Senate's pro-minority rules.
Copyright (c) 1999 Business Day. Distributed via Africa News OnlineBusiness Day (Johannesburg):
