USTR Concludes the GSP Limited Product Review

October 5, 2015

        The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) recently announced the results of the Obama Administration’s Limited Product Review under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. This 39-year-old trade preference program provides duty-free treatment to imports from developing countries. The program includes 5,000 types of products from 122 developing countries and territories. The review allows for the program to remain as effective as possible. “The annual GSP product review helps to ensure that the program is meeting statutory requirements and keeping up with evolving trade patterns, including those related to the competitiveness of beneficiary countries in different product areas,” stated U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
            As a result of the review, five upland cotton fiber products are now eligible to receive duty-free treatment when imported from least developed country (LDC) beneficiaries. In addition, GSP eligibility will be reinstated for three products from Ukraine and one from Indonesia that were previously excluded based on competitive need limitations. The administration will also grant competitive need limitation (CNL) waivers to ensure continued GSP benefits for over 100 products from 13 countries. In addition, 3 products will be withdrawn from CNL waivers because they have exceeded certain statutory limits related to competitiveness. These changes went into effect on October 1, 2015.
        President Obama also found that Seychelles, Uruguay, and Venezuela have surpassed the GSP income threshold, leading to their removal from the program in the near future. These beneficiary countries will officially graduate from the trade benefit program starting January 1, 2017.

            The full review can be found here.

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