Press Release of Agriculture Committee Ag Chairman Urges Trade Preferences Review of Advanced Developing Nations “The program should not reward governments who threaten litigation…work against our negotiators…and disregard intellectual property rights of U.S. companies” Contact: 202-224-2035 Wednesday, September 20, 2006 Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss has encouraged U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab to review the current criteria and consider revisions that would differentiate and exclude advanced developing countries that receive duty-free treatment of certain products shipped into the United States. Chairman Chambliss wrote the trade representative that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program should be temporary in nature and differentiate between least developed economies and advanced developing countries – to be specific and targeted towards those countries that need the most help and do not yet possess competitive export sectors. The Chairman cited the entrenchment of trading blocs protected by preferential access to developed country markets as one of the central causes of the collapse of WTO negotiations. “Additionally,” wrote Chambliss, “I believe the program should not reward governments who threaten litigation against the United States, work against our negotiators in the WTO towards a more open liberalized trade environment and disregard the intellectual property rights of U.S. companies. In fact, the entrenchment of trading blocs protected by preferential access to developed country markets is one of the central causes of the collapse of the WTO negotiations.” Editors Note: a copy of the signed, 2-page letter is posted on the Senate Agriculture Committee website. 263427