Officials from the Virgin Islands and American Samoa cited
the CBI as a case in point.
The CBI is a foreign policy initiative meant to stimulate economic growth, trade, and development
in the Central American and Caribbean region.
It provides tax
and trade incentives and development assistance to foreign countries in this region.
Virgin
Islands
officials
believe
the
tax
and
trade
provi-
sions of the CBI, particularly entry of duty-free rum from other
Caribbean countries
local rum industry.
into the United States, could harm their
They also complained that although some
"safeguards" were provided in the legislation, the potential
impact the CBI could have on the Virgin Islands was not consid-
ered until the territory raised the issue.
The governor of American Samoa said he was not notified by
any federal officials about a proposed provision in the CBI to
allow canned tuna from foreign sources to enter the United
States duty-free.
local
the
tuna
largest
He said he learned of the provision from the
industry.
private
Since American Samoa's
industry
in
the
tuna
territory,
canneries
such
are
a provision
could have had an adverse competitive impact on them.
Although
the tuna provision was eventually eliminated from the CBI, Amer-~
ican Samoan officials believe they should have been involved in
formulating the legislation to ensure that their views were ade-
quately considered.
said
Federal
the
officials
involved
in
the
formulation
territories were adequately considered
and
of
the
that
CBI
their
input was sought early in the process.
They also pointed out
that the CBI was primarily a U.S. foreign policy objective to
enhance U.S. relations in the Caribbean and that the U.S.
terri-
tories were not initially singled out for special consideration.
According to administration officials, once input was received
From the territories, some changes to the CBI were made to provide some safeguards to them, including rebating excise taxes to
the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which were collected on
foreign rum entering the United States.
In short, federal offi-
cials believe the territories were fairly treated in the formulation of the CBI.
Federal officials also acknowledge the territories increas-
ing interest in becoming more involved in regional and foreign
activities.
State Department officials said territory involve-
ment in regional organizations, such as the South Pacific Commission, comprised of island nations in the Pacific, has been
encouraged.
However, they also said that greater territorial
involvement
in
foreign activities must
be
assessed
by
the
federal government on a case-by-case basis.
Department of State
officials
said
the
flag
territories
States and therefore are generally
policy restrictions as states.
500023
uy
27
are
subject
part of
to
the
the
United
same foreign