Washington DC – The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) today further highlighted the need to renew promptly the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which expired on July 31, 2013, this year.
According to a new estimate released today by the Coalition for GSP, companies have so far paid $1 billion to date in tariffs because of the program’s expiration – an average cost of $1.85 million daily for the last 540 days or nearly 18 months.
“As companies face higher costs and lost sales because of expiration of GSP, they are forced to take difficult actions impacting their daily business operations and employees, and small businesses across the country have been hit especially hard,” said Chuck Dittrich, NFTC Vice President for Regional Trade Initiatives. “Congress should renew GSP as soon as possible this year to ensure all American companies, large and small, have the tools they need to compete in today’s global marketplace, contribute to U.S. economic growth and create American jobs.”
“President Obama’s State of the Union address and the agendas set forth by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan all place trade as a top priority for 2015, and the GSP program is an important component of U.S. trade policy. It should be renewed without further delay,” said Dittrich.
