GSP Lapse Now the Longest in History, Companies Push Lame-Duck Renewal
Expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences is continuing to bankrupt companies and slash profits, as the lapse now becomes the longest in the program’s 40-year history, said more than 600 companies and associations, as well as the Coalition for GSP, in a Nov. 17 letter to congressional leadership (here). The preference program expired on July 31, 2013. Industry stakeholders are pushing Congress to act on trade legislation in the lame-duck session, but there is no clear-cut vehicle to tack on GSP renewal, along with other trade bills (see 1411170027).
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The group represents "single-person sole proprietorships as well as some of the largest corporations in the world,” said the letter, addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “The vast majority of us are small businesses that can least afford the nearly $2 million per day cost of GSP expiration.” That cost comes in the form of duties that GSP would eliminate if Congress renewed the program. The letter also pressed Congress to refund the duties paid since the lapse through retroactive renewal. Officials from the Philippines, Lebanon and the Kyrgyz Republic also recently joined the U.S. industry in pushing for GSP renewal, the consultancy Sandler Trade said (here).