Alert

WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) this week re-introduced the GSP Update for Production Diversification and Trade Enhancement Act (GSP UPDATE Act), international trade legislation that will help boost the economy and create jobs by opening additional production markets to the U.S. travel good industry and providing new commercial opportunities to key international partners, including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand.

The bill authorizes the president to designate certain products as eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). U.S. Representative Ander Crenshaw (Fla.), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services, also introduced a version of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives this week.

“Since the GSP program expired on July 31, 2013, GSP-eligible companies in Missouri and nationwide have paid more than $1 billion in higher taxes,” Blunt said. “I’m pleased to reintroduce this important bipartisan bill to help eliminate import taxes on certain U.S. products and travel goods, and I thank my colleagues in the House and Senate for their support as we work to give these companies more opportunities to grow and create jobs for middle-class Americans.”

Background on the GSP Update Act:

The GSP program has long provided commercial opportunities to developing countries. When GSP was first established in 1974 travel goods items were statutorily exempted from the program. However, the market conditions of the past no longer exist – there is now finite production of travel goods in the U.S. If this bill is enacted, interested parties could petition the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to request specific eligible items be added to GSP. Only those items which have undergone an extensive inter-agency review and determined by the independent U.S. International Trade Commission to be non-import sensitive would be given duty-free entrance from GSP beneficiary countries.

Missouri Specifics Relating to GSP:

In 2014, $138 million in imports into Missouri faced $5.5 million in taxes due to the expiration of GSP.  Most Missouri imports under GSP are raw materials and industrial goods whose duty-free treatment helps Missouri companies remain competitive. GSP eliminates tariffs on certain products from more than 122 countries, but the vast majority of Missouri imports under GSP come from a handful of countries, led by India, Brazil, and Thailand. According to the “Coalition for GSP,” among the 660 companies and associations supporting GSP renewal, 10 are headquartered in Missouri.