House Lawmakers Push for USTR To Add Travel Goods Benefits to All GSP Countries
A bipartisan group of 14 members of Congress urged the Obama administration to proclaim duty-free benefits for 27 travel goods for all Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary countries, after the government deferred GSP eligibility petitions for the products June 30. “As supporters of the GSP program and its congressionally mandated purpose of spurring development through trade and investment while also enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. companies, we are very disappointed with the decision to defer a determination on travel goods eligibility for all GSP countries,” the lawmakers said in a July 27 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. Continued inaction hampers the economic development of GSP-eligible countries, including economic and strategic U.S. allies, the lawmakers said.
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The administration’s June 30 proclamation (here) conferred duty-free benefits for 27 travel goods imported from least developed beneficiary developing countries (LDBDCs) and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) countries, but withheld benefits for non-LDBDCs subject to GSP, omitting travel goods from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan (see 1607010008). Deciding to exclude those nations from GSP travel goods benefits doesn’t reflect Congressional intent or stakeholder input, but adding them to GSP travel goods eligibility would help them take market share from China, which supplied almost 85 percent of goods covered by the petition to the U.S. in 2015, the lawmakers said.
AGOA countries exported 200,000 bags to the U.S. in 2015, representing only 0.01 percent of the market, so omitting non-LDBDCs limits the ability of GSP travel goods imports to meet the demand or requirements of industry in the near future, the lawmakers said. “Simply put, the policy rationale that the Administration has offered in support of its decision is not supported by commercial realities on the ground in GSP countries and non-GSP countries nor reflected in the development capacity of various GSP countries,” the letter says. Lawmakers who signed the letter include 10 members of the House Ways and Means Committee, including Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative didn't comment.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the lawmakers' letter.