U.S. Administration Backs Repeal of Jackson-Vanik Amendment for Central Asia
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has confirmed during a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the Trump administration supports the abolition of the Jackson-Vanik amendment for countries in Central Asia.
«We believe this would be beneficial,» he remarked to the committee members.
The top American diplomat also announced his intention to hold a C5+1 meeting. This key diplomatic gathering is expected to take place later this year in one of the Central Asian republics.
Early last year, Rubio argued that applying this outdated amendment to the region was a relic of the Cold War. He stressed that Washington must direct more strategic attention towards Central Asia.
In a similar vein, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy previously proposed lifting the amendment specifically for Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. He argued that these nations should finally be granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.
According to the senator, removing these trade barriers would empower Central Asian states to achieve several key objectives:
- Actively develop their domestic economies
- Expand international commercial ties
- Attract greater foreign investment
- Reduce their geopolitical dependence on Russia and China
The Jackson-Vanik amendment is a stringent provision of U.S. trade law enacted in 1974 at the height of the Cold War. It deliberately restricted trade privileges for non-market economies if they hindered the free emigration of their citizens.
Under this law, countries subject to the amendment were unable to enjoy most-favoured-nation status in their trade dealings with the US without securing special ongoing exemptions.
