Bush administration expands GSP by $900 million

Bush administration expands GSP by $900 million    The Bush administration will increase trade benefits for developing countries by $900 million under a special duty-free import program.
   The intent of the Generalized System of Preferences is to encourage developing countries to reduce trade barriers and increase their economic activity with the United States.
   “Trade preference programs like GSP are an important part of America’s global economic leadership, but such unilateral one-way programs should lead us over time to more open, extensive markets for all countries, developed and developing,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick in a statement.
   The president’s action resulted in additional GSP benefits of more than $96 million for Argentina, $30 million for the Philippines, and $130 million for Turkey. The Bush administration also acted on product petitions from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Morocco, Thailand and Uruguay.
   Congress reauthorized GSP last August as part of the 2002 Trade Act. Last year, more than $17.5 billion in imports entered the United States under GSP.