Expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences is continuing to bankrupt companies and slash profits, as the lapse now becomes the longest in the program’s 40-year history, said more than 600 companies and associations, as well as the Coalition for GSP, in a Nov. 17 letter to congressional leadership (here). The preference program expired on July 31, 2013. Industry stakeholders are pushing Congress to act on trade legislation in the lame-duck session, but there is no clear-cut vehicle to tack on GSP renewal, along with other trade bills (see 1411170027).
Capitol Hill trade supporters and industry stakeholders may be increasingly looking to tax extender legislation as a vehicle for trade bills in the lame-duck session, said National Foreign Trade Council President Bill Reinsch at an NFTC roundtable on Nov. 14. But lingering congressional concerns over some of those bills are poised to impede efforts to build a small trade package around extenders, said Reinsch. A moratorium on earmarks has held up movement on the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill since its expiration at the end of 2012. The Generalized System of Preferences still faces funding hurdles in the Senate.
Passage of Trade Promotion Authority is one of four key legislative priorities Congress should tackle in the rapidly-approaching lame-duck session of Congress, said former congressman Jim Moran during an Arent Fox and Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panel on Oct. 29 (here). Americans go to the ballot box on Nov. 4, and the lame-duck session will extend through January when the 114th Congress takes its seat. The other priorities include the 12 appropriations measures, defense authorization and immigration reform progress, said Moran.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 20-26:
Duty-free access for some Nicaraguan apparel is set to expire on Dec. 31, and industry executives say the tariff preference levels (TPL) are poised to be the next victim of congressional inaction on trade. An omnibus trade bill or smaller legislative package is still the most likely way to renew the tariff preferences, they said. But movement on the trade agenda during the coming lame duck session is far from guaranteed, and realistically not even likely, they added.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 6-10 in case they were missed.
The U.S. and Indonesia struck compromise on Oct. 3 in a long-running dispute over a U.S. sales ban on clove cigarettes, the World Trade Organization announced (here). The WTO’s dispute arm faulted the U.S. for the ban, which stems from the Family Smoking Prevention Tobacco Control Act of 2009. Indonesia floated its retaliation plans in 2013, and after the U.S. objected, the two sides agreed to re-arbitrate the dispute. The U.S. ban on flavored cigarettes does not include menthol cigarettes, one part of the law that Indonesia argued is discriminatory.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 29 - Oct. 5:
President Barack Obama on Oct. 3 officially removed Russia from the list of countries that benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Russia has economically advanced and developed its trade competitiveness to a point that no longer justifies its inclusion in the preference program, said Obama. The Trade Act of 1974 will be modified and the Harmonized Tariff Schedule will be amended to reflect the removal of Russia, Obama said in the statement. Obama told Congress in May that he intended to remove Russia from the program (see 14050805). The termination is effective Oct. 3. The GSP program has been expired for more than a year.