Move to Open Africa Trade Develops Snag

Few issues make for such odd alliances in Congress as free trade. So it wasn’t that startling Wednesday when Rep. Ed Royce, a conservative Republican from Fullerton, and Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a liberal New York Democrat, stood shoulder to shoulder here to pledge anew their support for legislation to strengthen trade with Africa.

Royce talked up a policy of engagement with a continent often marginalized from the global economy. Rangel praised the bipartisan appeal of free trade and trumpeted the endorsements of a passel of African diplomats.

In fact, all appeared to be proceeding smoothly for what has been named the “African Growth and Opportunity Act of 1999,” save for one hitch that emerged during a day of hearings and caucuses: African American members of Congress are sharply split on key details of trade legislation.

While Rangel, an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus, is behind the bill to loosen trade restrictions with countries in sub-Saharan Africa that embark on market-based economic reforms, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) has offered his own bill, one focused more on forgiving foreign debt for the impoverished region and offering other monetary aid.

And so the stage was set for what Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) predicted will be a controversial debate on a “very complex issue.”

Royce figures to be in the thick of it. He is head of the House International Relations subcommittee on Africa. Last year, a Royce-sponsored African trade bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate. Proponents said it met resistance from Southern lawmakers seeking to protect their states’ textile markets. This year, they said, with President Clinton supporting increased trade with Africa, the outcome will be different.

In his State of the Union address last month, Clinton urged Congress to follow up on his historic trip last year to Africa by passing an African trade and development act to help fortify countries, such as Nigeria, that are in the midst of democratic reforms.

In a Wednesday news conference on Capitol Hill, Royce, who accompanied Clinton on the trip, repeated that theme: “For us not to engage in a trade-based relationship will render all our other efforts in Africa futile.”

Diplomats from Senegal, in West Africa, and Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, joined Royce and Rangel to speak for the bill. “For a long time, we believe we’ve been unfairly kept out of the American market,” said Ambassador Seck Mamadou of Senegal. He said numerous other African emissaries in Washington have expressed the same view.

Royce said in an interview that expanding trade with Africa makes good business sense for Southern California and the rest of the country. Europe has about 40% of the African trade market and the United States just 7%, he said. “The markets are huge.” Recently, Royce said, the president of Mozambique was in Orange County to talk with businesses about natural gas development.

But in a hearing on the trade bill Wednesday, Jackson jousted with Rangel as he pushed an alternative approach. He said the “greatest barrier” to economic development in Africa is not trade restrictions but a suffocating foreign debt, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. Jackson proposed canceling the debt unconditionally, as a partial remedy for “the historical injustices” the region suffered for centuries at the hands of colonial powers.

Later, Jackson pressed his views in a meeting of the 38-member Congressional Black Caucus. Waters, who attended the meeting, said the all-Democratic group was divided. “It’s very early to predict where people are going to be on this,” she said.

Waters voted last year for the bill co-sponsored by Royce and Rangel. But she withdrew her support after it moved to the Senate because, she said, the legislation needed to be modified to offer certain protections for African business interests. She said debt relief for Africa should be a key part of this year’s debate.

Royce, Rangel and their allies hope to bring their bill to a vote on the House floor this month.