Fight for cigar and textile sectors

[NewsWhore]

President Leonel Fernandez tried to help the Dominican tobacco and textile sectors yesterday warning on the damaging effects a proposed US cigar tax bill could have on DR exports and for Dominican flexibility to import textiles from Mexico. Fernandez told US Trade Representative Officer Susan Schwab that the DR needed to source textiles in Mexico to compete in the US market. The pending legislation on a new tax on cigars - which would go towards funding children's health care in the US - would affect a sizable sector of Dominican industry. According to the press release from the Dominican Presidential Press Office, Ms. Schwab listened "attentively" to the President's comments about the creation of mechanisms aimed at allowing Dominican textile manufacturers to procure cloth from Mexico under the aegis of the DR-CAFTA agreement. According to the note, Schwab promised to work with the Bush Administration and congressional leaders to avoid such negative effects in the Dominican textile and tobacco sectors. President Fernandez met with Schwab as part of his US tour. Yesterday the President spoke at the American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA)'s Annual Meeting/Businessmen and Policy makers from the Western Hemisphere.
For more on Fernandez's US tour, see http://www.dr1.com/forums/dominicans-abroad/... (http://www.dr1.com/forums/dominicans-abroad/66151-president-fernandez-new-york.html)

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