{"id":356856,"date":"2025-12-18T22:27:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/356856\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T22:27:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:27:30","slug":"case-introduces-measure-to-strengthen-economic-partnerships-with-pacific-islands-kauai-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/356856\/","title":{"rendered":"Case introduces measure to strengthen economic partnerships with Pacific Islands : Kauai Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Hawai\u2019i Democrat who represents the 1st Congressional District encompassing all of Honolulu, announced this week that he introduced the Promoting Regional Opportunities for Sustainable Prosperity and Economic Resilience in the Pacific Act \u2014 or PROSPER Act \u2014 to strengthen the economic partnership between the United States and Pacific Islands.<\/p>\n

\"\"U.S. Rep. Ed Case<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pacific Islands, spread across the vast Pacific Ocean, are key partners in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific and strengthening mutual economic, security and cultural ties across countries sharing mutual values and goals,\u201d said Case in a release about the new proposed legislation, House Resolution 6619. \u201cIt is in our mutual best interests that we develop, maintain and grow our relationships across all levels, of which economic advancement is especially important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case is a founding co-chairman of the Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus.<\/p>\n

He explained successive administrations have committed to deepening U.S. engagement in the Pacific Islands region, including through trade and investment. Most recently, the 2025 National Security Strategy<\/a> asserts \u201cthe Indo-Pacific is already and will continue to be among the next century\u2019s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That reaffirms the nation\u2019s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and prioritizes winning the economic competition throughout the long term in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission\u2019s 2025 Annual Report<\/a> to Congress recommended that we strengthen economic assistance to Pacific Island countries to support U.S. national security interests and the priorities of partner countries,\u201d Case said. \u201cHowever, our economic toolkit for achieving our goals in the Pacific Islands needs to be strengthened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The congressman said many Pacific Island countries enjoyed preferential treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences when it was authorized, but the program lapsed in 2020.<\/p>\n

Some of the Pacific Islands\u2019 top exports to the United States \u2014 including tuna, cane sugar, ginger and taro \u2014 would be eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences if it hadn\u2019t lapsed.<\/p>\n

Case noted that the Pacific Islands Forum \u2014 the leading multinational organization for the Pacific Islands region \u2014 prioritized the region\u2019s need to build trade capacity and infrastructure as well as specifically advocated for preferential trade agreements given its lack of competitiveness because of its small national markets, isolation from the global market, high cost of operating and land and labor constraints.<\/p>\n

The Pacific Islands Forum has encouraged the United States to extend duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences beyond preferences for least-developed beneficiary developing countries.<\/p>\n

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Case\u2019s bill \u2014 acting on the Pacific Islands Forum\u2019s expressed desire \u2014 extends duty-free treatment to certain goods imported from eligible Pacific Islands countries in the same manner afforded to least-developed beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences.<\/p>\n

It also directs the president to develop a plan for negotiating free trade agreements with Pacific Islands countries and create a dedicated trade facilitation and capacity building program for the region, all of which will promote inclusive economic development, create sustainable job opportunities and improve standards of living in the region.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the bill, if enacted, would serve U.S. national security interests in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cImplementing such a program would come at a low cost to the [United States] while delivering a high strategic return, especially given the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s [PRC] increased focus on expanding its influence in the region,\u201d Case said. \u201cMy bill, PROSPER in the Pacific, would provide a visible alternative to the [People\u2019s Republic of China] by emphasizing economic partnership over debt-trap diplomacy, all while encouraging private-sector-led development, market-based economies and mutual goodwill between our countries.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Ed Case, a Hawai\u2019i Democrat who represents the 1st Congressional District encompassing all of Honolulu, announced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[176842,176843,176844,23,176845,13888,176846,13892,13893,3,18980,176847,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-356856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-1st-congressional-district","tag-2025-annual-report","tag-2025-national-security-strategy","tag-america","tag-founding-co-chairman-of-congressional-pacific-islands-caucus","tag-hawaii-news","tag-introduces-measure-to-strengthen-economic-partnerships-with-pacific-islands","tag-kauai-news","tag-kauai-now","tag-news","tag-pacific-islands","tag-prioritized-region","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}