The United States Trade Representative has made a request for comments from the public on Haiti's eligibility for benefits under the HOPE Act that was recently signed into law [link< Read more »

Yesterday, President Bush signed into law the Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (worst acronym ever). Read more »

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According to a recent study, 1/10 of Haiti’s GDP comes from the garment industry. A report released by the Progressive Policy Institute goes even further to point out one of the key arguments for granting Haiti preferential trade status: Read more »

At long last, the Haitian community thought there'd been some progress on Capitol Hill. After two years of negotiation (or neglect), Chairman Thomas and Ranking Member Rangel of the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives introduced, for the first time, the Haiti HOPE Act. That's the Haiti Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act, for those who struggle with obscure acronyms.

Last week, Haiti's President-elect, Rene Preval, visited Washington, DC in an attempt to bolster support for US backed aid packages during his second term. While on Capitol Hill, he met with lawmakers of the Senate and the House Ways and Means committee to shore up support for the HOPE Act, a trade bill that would offer preferential trade status to Haiti on certain textile exports to the US. Read more »

If you want to know what it is like to be Sisyphus in Congress, just ask Senator Mike DeWine (OH). This week, the Senator reintroduced the Haitian Economic Recovery Opportunity Act (HERO). The bill, which would amend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to allow certain apparel articles to enter the United States duty free, has been introduced by the Senator in each of the last three sessions of congress. Read more »