On October 30, 2020, the United States President, Donald Trump, signed a proclamation announcing changes to Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) eligibility for preferential treatment based on the U.S. Trade Representative 2020 program review findings.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates the effective use of the GSP program to improve labor standards and help U.S. businesses and workers succeed,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer. “It also demonstrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to robust monitoring and enforcement of our trade preference programs and underscores that when countries do not meet the congressionally mandated eligibility criteria, we will take action by limiting their preferential duty-free access to the U.S. market.”
USTR Announces GSP Enforcement Action, Country Successes, and New Eligibility Reviews
The six key updates and changes made by the president include:
(1) Revoked GSP benefits: Effective on December 30, 2020, 12:01 am, a list of certain products imported from Thailand under GSP preferential treatment (approximate one-sixth of Thailand’s GSP trade) will be removed from the GSP eligibility list and no longer will be treated as duty-free. The full list of the revoked products can be found in the Annex I attachment.
(2) Removed GSP benefits: Effective November 1, 2020, 12:01 am, parboiled rice (HTS 1006.30.10) is removed from the GSP eligible product list for all GSP beneficiary developing countries (BDCs) and can be found in the Annex II attachment.
The following subheadings are now ineligible for GSP when imported from the listed country:
(3) Added GSP benefits: Effective November 1, 2020, 12:01 am, Fresh-cut roses (HTS 0603.11.00) is added to the GSP eligible products for all GSP beneficiary developing countries (BDCs) and can be found in the Annex II attachment.
(4) De Minimis CNL waiver decision: Effective November 1, 2020, 12:01 am, the President waived Competitive Need Limitations (CNLs) for products in which total imports of the article did not exceed $24.5 million. The detailed list can be found in the Annex III attachment.
The following country-product pairs are still eligible for GSP benefits:
(5) CNL removal decision: Effective November 1, 2020, The President removed six products from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Indonesia that exceeded the $190 million CNL threshold for imports from a single country from GSP eligibility. The detailed list can be found in the Annex II attachment.
(6) Continued GSP benefits: The country of Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia will continue to receive GSP preferential treatment.
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