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PPI’s Ed Gresser Provides Testimony to International Trade Commission on U.S.-Pacific Island Trade Opportunities
02.14.2023
Today, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) released a new report as part of PPI’s Ed Gresser’s testimony to the International Trade Commission’s (ITC) hearing on United States-Pacific Trade. Mr. Gresser spoke in support of the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s request letter to the ITC on the Pacific Islands.
“I strongly endorse the Biden administration’s effort to rethink and upgrade U.S. policy in this region,” writes Ed Gresser in the report. “The administration’s decision to rethink Pacific Islands policy and develop more ambitious goals for these relationships is appropriate and timely. The United States has very substantial economic, human, and political assets in this part of the world, and can use them more effectively than we have in the past several decades, in the interest of both the United States and the Pacific Island countries.”
Gresser asks Congress to consider a 5-step process:
- Renew the Generalized System of Preferences system soon
- Add an environmental eligibility criterion
- Allow Pacific Island Forum member to “cumulate” one another’s inputs
- Develop a program of regular visits to the region
- Work closely with allies to upgrade the U.S. government’s capacity-building and technical assistance programs
He also suggests a more ambitious and difficult alternative which would require legislation, in the creation of a “regional” preference program for the Pacific Island countries similar to the Caribbean Basin Initiative and African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Read the full report and testimony here.
Ed Gresser is Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets at PPI. Ed returns to PPI after working for the think tank from 2001-2011. He most recently served as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Ed began his career on Capitol Hill before serving USTR as Policy Advisor to USTR Charlene Barshefsky from 1998 to 2001. He then led PPI’s Trade and Global Markets Project from 2001 to 2011. After PPI, he rejoined USTR in 2015. In 2013, the Washington International Trade Association presented him with its Lighthouse Award, awarded annually to an individual or group for significant contributions to trade policy.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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Media Contact: Aaron White; awhite@ppionline.org
