PROSPER in the Pacific Act
Sponsored By: Representative Case
Introduced
Summary
Preferential tariff access for Pacific Islands is the core aim of the PROSPER in the Pacific Act. The bill would create a new tariff-preference program modeled on the African Growth and Opportunity Act to let eligible Pacific Islands countries export certain articles duty free to the United States while tying eligibility to labor, environmental, and governance standards.
Show full summary
- Pacific Islands exporters and businesses would gain potential duty-free access for qualifying articles if their country meets the bill's eligibility rules. The Pacific Islands named include Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
- Workers, communities, and the environment are central to eligibility. The bill conditions benefits on effective protections for internationally recognized worker rights, enforcement of environmental laws, and bars countries for gross human rights abuses or failures to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
- U.S. trade policy and private-sector actors must prepare for engagement. The President would be required to deliver a plan for negotiating trade agreements within 12 months, create a trade facilitation and capacity building program within 180 days, and provide annual reports on implementation through 2036, with duty-free treatment ending December 31, 2036.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Trade help program for Pacific exporters
If enacted, the President would establish a trade facilitation and capacity-building program for the Pacific Islands not later than 180 days after enactment. The program would help governments and exporters improve exporter readiness and awareness, publish trade rules and forms online, and increase access to online guides about U.S. tariff-preference programs. It would also provide export-finance training for financial institutions and governments and support public-private dialogue on trade reforms.
Duty-free access for Pacific goods
If enacted, the President would be able to allow goods from listed Pacific Islands to enter the United States duty-free. The bill lists 14 Pacific Islands by name: Cook Islands; Fiji; Kiribati; Marshall Islands; Federated States of Micronesia; Nauru; Niue; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Tonga; Tuvalu; and Vanuatu. Countries would be eligible regardless of income if they meet worker-rights, environmental, anti-corruption, rule-of-law, and poverty-reduction tests. The bill would define internationally recognized worker rights to include union and collective bargaining rights, bans on forced labor and the worst forms of child labor, minimum wages and hours, safe workplaces, no discrimination, and no violence against workers. Preferential duty-free treatment would be subject to suspension or withdrawal for violations, and any duty-free treatment under the bill would end after December 31, 2036.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Case
HI • D
Cosponsors
Del. Radewagen, Aumua Amata Coleman [R-AS-At Large]
AS • R
Sponsored 3/25/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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