GSP Renewal Is Planned, Ways and Means Chairman Says
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, expressed his desire for renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and quick movement of the miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB), according to his opening statement at a June 22 committee hearing (here). “We plan to renew GSP and move quickly on our Miscellaneous Tariff Bill to help U.S. exporters,” he said. Trade group executives recently said they were pondering whether both pieces of legislation could move forward together (see 1706200050). According to the timeline laid out in the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016, Congress could consider MTB legislation Nov. 6 or sooner.
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U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during the hearing also hinted that his agency would soon reach a decision pleasing to GSP supporters in its review of whether travel goods from beneficiary developing countries should qualify for preferential tariff treatment. “We are in the process of looking at it right now,” Lighthizer said (here) in response to a question from Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb. “We’re very close -- the documents are in front of me -- and I think you’ll see an outcome very soon. My guess is you won’t be disappointed.” The Obama administration deferred a determination of whether to apply tariff preferences to travel goods sourced from beneficiary developing countries qualifying for GSP treatment in June 2016 (see 1610180063).