The latest trade data on GSP also allowed us to update our tariff costs by state (that were cited in the House GSP debate last week). We’ll be using this to update all of our GSP State Reports, but in the meantime wanted to provide some of the highlights by state. Keep in mind, these figures are just for the first seven months of the year:
California – the countries most populous state matches the expectations, ranking first among all states in both the value of GSP imports ($1.4 billion) and the cost of GSP expiration ($57.3 million)
Rhode Island – it may be small, but the Ocean State’s imports face the highest average tariffs (6.6 percent) as a result of GSP expiration, in large part because of the 11.0% tariff on imitation jewelry and parts
New Jersey – although edged out in both the value of GSP imports and the cost of expiration by neighbor New York, New Jersey leads the nation with GSP imports per capita of $91,747 for every 1,000 residents
Maryland – while GSP imports account for less than 1 percent of total U.S. imports, Maryland companies choose to use the program at a much higher rate with GSP imports accounting for 3.5 percent of Maryland imports, more than 4.4 times the national average
Idaho – no one would consider changing the nickname of “The Gem State” to “Friend of Suriname,” but imports from the tiny South American country (smaller than Idaho) account for 34 percent of Idaho’s GSP imports in 2011, something sure to keep the Surinamese happy
