U.S. Trade Representative tweaks GSP program

Based on the Obama administration’s limited annual review, Generalized System of Preferences will now include five upland cotton fiber products and the reinstatement of the Ukraine in the program.    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has made several adjustments to the nearly four decades-old Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), based on the recent outcome of the Obama administration’s annual limited product review under the program.
   GSP is a U.S. trade program that provides duty-free treatment for numerous imports from more than 120 developing countries.
   “The annual GSP product review helps to ensure that the program is meeting statutory requirements and keeping up with evolving trade patterns, including those related to the competitiveness of beneficiary countries in different product areas,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman in a statement.
   Specifically, recent changes to the program include the addition of five upland cotton fiber products for duty-free treatment. This action fulfills a recent U.S. pledge in the World Trade Organization to make imports of all upland cotton products from less-developed countries duty-free and quota-free.
   The Ukraine has been reinstated to GSP eligibility for several products, while an Indonesian product has also been allowed back into the program, according to the agency.
   USTR granted a number of competitive need limitation (CNL) waivers, ensuring continued GSP duty-free benefits for 100 products from 13 countries, including both petitioned and de minimis waivers.
   The Obama administration also found that Seychelles, Uruguay, and Venezuela have recently surpassed their GSP income threshold and will be removed from the program, starting Jan. 1, 2017. “Since GSP eligibility is a precondition for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Seychelles – which is currently a beneficiary of AGOA – will also graduate from benefits for that program, effective Jan. 1, 2017,” USTR said.
   Under GSP, nearly 5,000 types of products from 122 beneficiary developing countries and territories, including 43 least-developed countries, are eligible for duty-free treatment when exported to the United States. In 2014, the total value of imports that entered the United States duty-free under GSP was $18.3 billion, according to USTR.