GSP Advocates Ask for Renewal, or Stop-Gap Refunds
More than 250 importers, large and small, and 27 trade associations asked Congress to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program this month, and if that can't be done, to pass a bill that would refund tariffs paid on GSP-eligible imports that entered between Jan. 1, 2021, and Aug. 31, 2022. The letter, sent Nov. 30, notes that tariffs that have been paid while the program has been expired is the highest amount ever, at more than $2 billion, and if GSP is not renewed, it will be the first time it was gone for a full two years. The last time GSP expired, at the end of 2017, it was less than four months before it returned; when it expired in 2013, it was gone almost two years (see 13080110).
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The Coalition for GSP also said that the competitive need limitation rules need to be changed, as was proposed by Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla, and the late Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind. (Murphy is leaving Congress at the end of the year). "GSP cannot meet its development goals -- or provide USTR with leverage to incentivize a race-to-the-top -- if too many products lose benefits due to arbitrary and outdated caps. CNLs are particularly relevant in the China context, as current rules severely constrain the volume of new trade that can move to GSP countries," the group said, noting that the top five GSP-eligible imports from Indonesia this year will surpass the CNL limit, making Indonesia less feasible as a China alternative.