The International Trade Commission posted the 2021 Preliminary Edition of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The new HTS implements the removal of GSP benefits for many Thai products, as well as the redesignation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as eligible for African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits, and the extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act until 2020. New statistical breakouts are also added for many medical products, including those used in the treatment of COVID-19, as well as for industrial turbines and hemp seed, among other goods. Changes take effect Jan. 1, 2021, unless otherwise noted.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, won't be leading the Senate Finance Committee next year but said “it's going to take more than a few minutes between staff to work things out” on how to change the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. “I’m open to some of the things the Democrats hope to get in GSP,” he said Dec. 23 on a phone call with reporters, noting he's interested in promoting human rights, environmental protections and labor standards in other countries. But “some industries and segments of our economy” are going to suffer because the tariff preferences expired, he said. “And it’s just too bad.”
CBP issued filing instructions in a CSMS message for goods eligible for the Generalized System of Preferences treatment after the GSP benefits program expires at the end of the year. As in previous GSP lapses, filers would continue to use the GSP special program indicator to flag their entries, but would have to pay duties at the normal, non-preferential rate for any imports with a time of entry during the lapse. GSP is currently set to expire Dec. 31 if the program isn’t extended by Congress. GSP renewal didn't make into year-end spending legislation, so expiration is likely (see 2012210040).
The Generalized System of Preferences and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will expire at the end of the year, as neither provision moved with the end-of-year spending bill and COVID-19 relief package.
Technical fixes for USMCA, including the restoration of merchandise processing fee refunds for post-entry filings, are part of the end-of-year legislative package expected to pass later today, a Senate Finance Committee spokesman said.
A small deal that would restore India's Generalized System of Preferences benefits is something that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal have made headway on, Lighthizer said while speaking to the Confederation of Indian Industry. “My guess is we are not far away from a deal like that. Keep in mind, obviously, we have a political change going on over here and that’s going to be a bit of a setback, certainly, to the extent that I can facilitate that, which I would be happy to do it, but there is going to be some changes and my guess is that is going to slow things up,” he said Dec. 16 during an online interview.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., told International Trade Today that lawmakers are still working on renewing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. “GSP's a little bit stickier,” he said, adding that the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and GSP both “seem to be stalled.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, accused Democrats of holding up renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and said it's unjustified, “because it's always been very bipartisan, and for the most part, almost unanimous.” Referring to Democratic proposals to reform GSP, he said Dec. 15 that “some of the things they’re asking to do are legitimate, but we didn’t hear about some of these things until November 27th, and some of them are technical things that it takes a long time to work out.”
Chemicals are not among the top imports under the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program -- travel goods, jewelry, car parts, and lamps are -- but chemical distributors are still anxious that the program be renewed before it expires. Eric Byer, CEO of the National Association of Chemical Distributors, said in a phone interview that about 50% of his 250 members benefit from GSP tariff breaks. He said last time GSP expired, it took a couple of months to get reimbursed even after GSP was restored. He gave an example of a small company near Philadelphia that had to pay $250,000 in additional tariffs during the expiration, for a company that only had about 25 employees. Byer said citric acid is imported by many of his members, and if GSP expires, a 6% tariff will be applied to that citric acid coming from Thailand. Erin Getz, coordinator of governmental affairs for NACD, said 110 million pounds annually is imported from Thailand.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a populist Republican from Missouri, has introduced a Generalized System of Preferences bill that would only allow the tariff benefits to be granted when unemployment is below 4% in the U.S. The unemployment rate has been below 4% less than two years of the last 20. This version of GSP would also bar any country that the Department of Labor identifies as a country where there's a problem with forced labor or the worst forms of child labor.