Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)

On Thursday, June 22, House Democrats proposed a bill named the “American Worker and Trade Competitiveness Act”, which aims to reauthorize and update key trade programs aimed at enhancing U.S. trade competitiveness and supporting workers. Introduced by Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), ranking member of the Ways & Means trade subcommittee, the bill focuses on the Generalized

On Monday, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives proposed a bipartisan bill aimed at providing relief to U.S. importers who paid tariffs on goods that would have been eligible for preferential treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which expired on December 31, 2020. This bill would retroactively apply preferential treatment to products

To complement legislation introduced by Ohio Sens. Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), the House included changes to trade remedies law in the COMPETES Act. In addition to the updates outlined in our May 2021 update, the COMPETES Act also grants U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) a statutory basis to investigate claims

On January 25, 2022, the House Ways and Means Committee released the America COMPETES Act as the House counterpart to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Commonly referred to as the China packages, both pieces of legislation include trade titles which will now proceed to conference following a floor vote in the House. While the

On June 17, 2021, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Generalized System of Preferences and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Modernization Act of 2021. The announced legislation follows Senate passage of similar GSP and MTB provisions, as well as Section 301 provisions in the Trade Act of 2021 as part of the omnibus U.S. Innovation

On June 8, 2021, the Senate voted 68 to 32 to approve The American Innovation and Competition Act. The Act is an omnibus package of bills that took over a year to negotiate.

Major pieces of Legislation include:

  1. The Endless Frontier Act;
  2. the Strategic Competition Act;
  3. the Trade Act of 2021;
  4. the

On May 20, 2021, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced amendments to the Trade Act of 2021. The amendments include language renewing the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) as well as provision to renew the Section 301 product exclusion process. Notably, the amendments seek renewal of the

On May 18, 2021, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Trade Preferences and American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2021. The legislation would renew the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) which lapsed in December of 2020 through 2027, reauthorize the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill’s (MTB) implementing legislation, and renew the MTB through 2023. The

On February 25, the Senate Finance Committee held a confirmation hearing for the nominee for the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Katherine Tai. Tai’s strong performance in the hearing demonstrated her poise and a depth of knowledge on the issues. She was well-prepared for Senators’ questions and is likely to receive a swift confirmation in the

The Trump Administration announced that it will suspend $1.3 billion in trade preferences for certain products from Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program citing Thailand’s “failure to adequately provide internationally-recognized worker rights.”

GSP provides reduced tariff rates for certain products from certain developing and least developed countries.  Per the office of the