Former New Democrat Coalition head Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., is leading a bipartisan letter asking that the administration restore India to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. The letter, which is still being circulated in a bid for more signatures before an introduction in September, notes that the House voted 400-2 to reauthorize the GSP program in 2018.
Generalized System of Preferences program duty savings in June fell by about 18 percent compared with June last year, to $66 million, the Coalition for GSP said in a blog post. That decline seems to reflect the first full month without Turkey's eligibility in the program (see 1905170075) and slightly less than a month without India's eligibility (see 1906050043). "The $15 million year-over-year drop was the largest decline in GSP savings since the 2008-2009 financial crisis," the group said. While the savings from other countries grew by about 23 percent, or $12.5 million, that wasn't enough to offset the losses of India and Turkey, the group said. Using state-specific data, in many cases the "declines were wholly attributable to lost GSP for India and Turkey, leaving little chance that savings will bounce back in July," it said.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer addressed the recent end to India's Generalized System of Preferences benefits eligibility (see 1906050043) in written responses to two senators on the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked about GSP and the possibility of Section 301 actions against India at a June 18 hearing at which Lighthizer appeared. Lighthizer replied, "A USTR team ... recently visited New Delhi to meet with a variety of Indian government officials in an attempt to make progress on the broad range of trade barriers we have highlighted. We remain committed to finding solutions to the myriad of trade concerns we have with India. I hope that the Government of India demonstrates a comparable commitment to resolving our concerns."
Officials from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and trade officials from Thailand met July 23 to talk about the U.S. review of whether to keep Thailand in the Generalized System of Preferences program. The U.S. is troubled by lack of market access for U.S. pork producers, Thai workers' rights, and the trade deficit in goods. Out of $44.5 billion in two-way goods trade, the U.S. has a $19.3 billion deficit. "The United States raised issues related to agriculture, customs, intellectual property protection and enforcement, and labor," USTR said.
In a notice scheduled to be published July 15 in the Federal Register, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has allocated the quotas in metric tons of imported cane sugar that can come in below the tariff rate of 15.36 cents per pound for raw sugar and 16.21 cents per pound for refined sugar.
In order to get back in America's good graces, India needs to do more than open its market to American dairy and pay medical device companies fairly, according to Jeffrey Gerrish, deputy U.S. trade representative. Those were the trade irritants that led to India's suspension from the Generalized System of Preferences, but at a U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum leadership summit event July 11, Gerrish said the two countries need to "move beyond" the issues behind the GSP review to a more comprehensive reckoning.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 1-7:
The U.S. circulated a request for consultations with India at the World Trade Organization on July 4, over India's decision to raise tariffs on American almonds, apples, motorcycles, lentils, chickpeas and other products. The tariffs were raised on those products in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Indian steel and aluminum. The combined product list is supposed to bring in $241 million in additional duties. The tariffs went up June 16, shortly after India was removed from the Generalized System of Preferences program.
2019 is shaping up to be another active year in terms of changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Like last year, a series of revisions were necessary in the first half of the year to implement Section 301 exemptions and an increase for $200 billion worth of the China tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent. Other major changes are related to the Generalized System of Preferences, and in particular the removal of India and Turkey from the program. In all, seven revisions were issued prior to the mid-year Revision 8, as follows:
The International Trade Commission on July 1 posted Revision 8 to the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS implements the fourth and final round of tariff cuts under the expanded World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement. It also extensively reorganizes 10-digit tariff subheadings covering aluminum products, and adds tariff provisions for aerial work platform trucks, frozen berry mixes, diamond grinding wheels, storage lockers and certain electric motorcycles.