Grassley Confident GSP, Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Will Be Renewed Before Expiration
Although bills renewing the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership were offered in the last Congress without action, and this year's bill has been waiting 11 months, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said advocates of the program shouldn't worry it will expire at the end of September. Grassley, in response to an International Trade Today question during a conference call with reporters Aug. 27, said renewal is probably something that can pass the Senate by unanimous consent.
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According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, about $1 billion in goods were imported into the U.S. duty-free from partner countries, with textiles and apparel from Haiti making up 56% of the total in 2018. The cotton T-shirts from Haiti are made with U.S. yarn. Haiti trade preferences are also covered by the HOPE Act of 2006, which continues until 2025, but not all the apparel exports are covered by HOPE -- some are covered by the CBTP Act. Eight countries are covered by CBTPA, and Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are the largest after Haiti.
Grassley also addressed the prospects for renewing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, which expires at the end of the year. “There’s plenty of time to do it, and generally you would find GSP things worked out at the committee level so you end up with something that can pass and doesn’t take a lot of time to debate,” he said. “We aren’t going to do away with GSP as a total program, I can tell you that.”
The last time GSP was up for a renewal, it was not renewed on time, and there was a 16-month gap. It finally got a ride on a funding bill in March 2018. Congress is not expected to pass funding bills before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30; there is debate about whether the continuing resolution to keep the government going will be short-term, or will go until March 2021, which would allow Joe Biden, if he's elected, to have say on the current fiscal year priorities.