GSP saved American companies $894 million in 2017, an increase of nearly $30 million from past estimates. The new estimates are based on revisions and updates from the U.S. Census Bureau published in June and August, and details on some of the increases are below.
Even before upward revisions, U.S. companies’ tax benefits from GSP showed massive increases from past years: American companies saved nearly $20 million per month more in 2017 because of GSP compared to just two years earlier.
Through the first half of 2018, GSP savings are up an additional 18 percent and on track to crack $1 billion for the year. While Congress renewed GSP through 2020 to give companies the certainty necessary to encourage such growth, the Trump administration has launched a number of country “eligibility reviews” that could raise taxes for American companies that depend on GSP – by a lot.
There are GSP reviews underway for India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Turkey. American companies saved $544 million last year due to GSP for those countries. Collectively, they accounted for 61 percent of GSP savings on imports from all countries.
Given the risk of lost GSP, we strongly encourage companies importing from those countries to sign up for our GSP supporter list and take our review impacts survey, which are both free.
In terms of specific revisions based on the new data, New Jersey saw the biggest jump in savings by value, followed by Florida, California, Georgia, and New York.
Montana saw the biggest jump in GSP savings by percent, followed by Utah, Maine, Florida, and Nevada.
For supplier countries, the largest revision in US savings came on imports from the Philippines, followed by Indonesia, India, Thailand, and Brazil.
