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February 20, 2018 | by    

U.S. House Votes To Renew GSP Preferences System; Still Unclear When Senate Will Act

On an overwhelming 400-2 vote, the U.S. House last week voted for legislation to renew the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which waives U.S. tariffs on thousands of goods from developing countries.

As Veneble has explained, H.R. 4979 would extend GSP until December 31, 2020. It also includes a provision allowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection to apply GSP retroactively to entries made between December 31, 2017 and the date of the reauthorization. (Last month, Connecting the Dots reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had urged importers to continue to keep track of GSP-eligible goods in case the program was reauthorized retroactively.)

Senators still have not introduced or passed a GSP bill, but according to Politico’s “Morning Trade,” they are hoping to attach GSP reauthorization to “a broader piece of must-pass legislation in coming weeks.” Options for that strategy include attaching GSP to the government funding bill that Congress needs to pass by March 23.  

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