Bipartisan Bill Extends GSP Through 2029
A bipartisan bill sponsored by a half-dozen House members from Florida -- though none on the Ways and Means Committee -- offers full refunds for tariffs paid for imports of goods that should have been covered by the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. It also renews the program through the end of 2029.
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Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was joined by fellow Florida Democrats Frederica Wilson and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart, John Rutherford and Maria Elvira Salazar.
The Repayment of Extra Tariffs with Renewal of (Retro) GSP Act states that more than $3 billion in tariffs has been paid by importers since the program expired at the end of 2020, which hindered job creation and prevented business investments or expansions. "The GSP program serves the economic, strategic, security, and foreign policy interests and objectives of the United States, including the United States’ strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China, by incentivizing increased trade, promoting global standards of living, and strengthening our economic engagement with developing economies," the text says.
While Congress in the past has always directed the government to refund tariff payments made during a lapse, it also has never let GSP lapse this long. Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said recently that some were arguing for either partial reimbursement, or no reimbursement, so that a longer renewal could be offered without increasing the program's costs too much (see 2402230053). Smith said then that he supported full retroactivity.
This bill directs CBP to refund the tariff payments, without interest, within 90 days of the import's reliquidation or liquidation.