• Top 5 states by tariffs paid due to expiration: California ($287 million), Florida ($98 million), New York ($80 million), Texas ($80 million), Georgia ($61 million)
  
  
• Top 5 states by highest average tariff paid due to expiration: Colorado (12.1%), Maine (11.0%), Wisconsin (9.3%), Montana (9.1%), Utah (9.0%)
  
  
• Top 5 source countries by value of GSP imports: Indonesia ($3.9 billion), Thailand ($3.3 billion), Cambodia ($2.7 billion), Brazil ($2.5 billion), Philippines ($1.9 billion)
  
  
• Top 5 source countries by value of (eventual) tariff savings: Cambodia ($268 million), Indonesia ($218 million), Thailand ($139 million), Philippines ($121 million), Brazil ($94 million)
  
  

Import growth in 2021 was massive. Total U.S. goods imports grew by 21%, while those from GSP countries grew by 35%. Yet “competitive need limitations” (CNLs), which lead to GSP loss for specific products, only grew by 2.6%. As a result, $1.8 billion of the currently eligible imports exceeded the 2021 CNL and another $1.5 billion likely will exceed the 2022 cap based on import levels and trends, putting a huge share of future GSP benefits at risk:

• Top 5 states by share of benefits at risk for exceeding the 2021 CNL: Mississippi (42%), Louisiana (26%), Florida (20%), New York (15%), Virginia (13%)
  
  
• Top 5 states by share of benefits likely at risk from the 2022 CNL: Maine (37%), Colorado (27%), Iowa (27%), Hawaii (19%), Michigan (15%)
  
  

Representatives Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) introduced the bipartisan CNL Update Act (H.R.6171), which would amend the CNLs to grow more in line with historical trends. Not only would the CNL Update Act help preserve GSP for much of that “at risk” trade, it would help restore GSP for some of the $10 billion (!!!) in imports that lost GSP in the past due to product reviews:

• Top 5 states by potential GSP savings increase for products that “should” be restored by H.R.6171: Alaska (84%), South Dakota (72%), Michigan (41%), Maryland (38%), Mississippi (42%)
  
  
• Top 5 states by potential GSP savings increase for products that “may” be restored by H.R.6171: South Dakota (4,565%), Wyoming (218%), Maryland (213%), New York (196%), Minnesota (166%)
  
  

While the CNL Update Act has a chance to “preserve and restore,” there remains considerable down-side risk. The GSP renewal language in the House’s America COMPETES Act not only maintains the current CNL thresholds, but creates a high likelihood of full or partial termination for key GSP supplier countries, particularly Brazil, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Thailand. Loss of GSP due to current CNL rules, combined with loss for those countries, would decimate the program:

• States where at least 90% of current GSP benefits are at risk: Wisconsin (-97%), West Virginia (-96%), Montana (-92%), Utah (-91%)
  
  
• States where at least 80% of current GSP benefits are at risk: Colorado (-88%), Connecticut (-86%), Arkansas (-85%), Hawaii (-84%), Wyoming (-83%), Maine (-83%), Alaska (-82%), Kansas (-82%), Mississippi (-82%), Texas (-81%), Indiana (-81%)
  
  
• States where at least 70% of current GSP benefits are at risk: Nebraska (-79%), Georgia (-79%), North Carolina (-79%), Michigan (-79%), Washington (-78%), Rhode Island (-78%), Nevada (-78%), Illinois (-77%), Alabama (-76%), New Mexico (-76%), California (-76%), Minnesota (-75%), Tennessee (-75%), Virginia (-74%), Massachusetts (-74%), Oklahoma (-74%), Kentucky (-73%), South Dakota (-72%), Florida (-72%), Oregon (-71%)
  
  

This last set of stats shows that GSP “renewal” can’t be the only priority. It must be renewed in a way that doesn’t decimate the program in the next 2-3 years. After all, it’s impossible to “promote development through trade” with a program that covers no trade.

Due to GSP expiration, Ciranda has paid over $209,000 in extra tariffs on imports of tapioca powders and syrups, coconut products, rice syrup and powders from Brazil, Pakistan, Philippines, and Thailand. The need to pass these costs onto customers led sales to fall. Even if tariffs paid (eventually) are refunded, those lost sales can’t be regained. As an employee-owned company, everyone at Ciranda is impacted by those lost sales and profits.

Ciranda is a great example of the kind of trade GSP is meant to promote. Its qualification process includes an in-person visit to every supplier. While on-site, it observes each ingredient’s journey from the field to the processing plant. In addition to evaluating product quality, it surveys working conditions, fair labor practices, and the overall environmental health of the project. In 2020, Ciranda published a book highlighting the farmers around the world growing their product.

By eliminating U.S. tariffs on sustainable food ingredients, GSP helps companies like Ciranda do “more good” for workers and the environment in developing countries and the United States. Their example also highlights the risk of imposing too many eligible criteria on GSP countries for which higher tariffs are the only possible punishment. No matter how well-intentioned a new GSP criterion (e.g., on environment) may be, terminating GSP often hurts those meeting or exceeding even the highest standards. That’s why the Coalition believes Congress should consider changes to mitigate any punitive actions as part of GSP renewal, such as supporting partial (instead of full) terminations and/or creating a mechanism for good actors to retain benefits.

Note: Ciranda’s story came from a new Coalition survey on expiration impacts. GSP importers can take the survey here.

The products facing the most new tariffs vary greatly by state:

• In Florida, roses faced more than $1.8 million in new tariffs due to GSP expiration in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.
• In New York, gold jewelry faced more than $1 million in new tariffs.
• In Louisiana, over $600,000 in tariffs were paid on steel-making materials (likely by a company around the Port of New Orleans for distribution throughout the country).
• In Massachusetts, over $200,000 in tariffs were paid on leather sports gloves.
• In Pennsylvania over $160,000 were paid for rubber gloves. They were also the top products for tariffs faced in Connecticut, Mississippi, and Minnesota. Notably, while GSP countries face new tariffs, identical products from China continue to receive a Section 301 tariff waiver for public health reasons.

The $70 million in tariffs paid is a conservative estimate, and the real figure likely is millions of dollars more. Why? Estimates only capture products that continued to claim GSP despite expiration. Yet for numerous products GSP claims fell dramatically while imports continued or even grew. For example, more than $11 million of road wheels from Thailand (88%) were imported in January that didn’t claim GSP. Just 0.4% of those same imports didn’t claim GSP in January 2020. Camshafts and gelatin from Brazil, guitars from Indonesia, and bicycles from Cambodia similarly saw large values of unclaimed GSP imports in January 2021 when nearly all such imports claimed GSP in January 2020.

GSP expiration is already costing American jobs and raising prices for American companies that need inputs and consumers that purchase finished goods. It is critical that Congress renew GSP – with refunds for tariffs paid – as soon as possible. To help the Coalition for GSP educate policymakers on who is hurt by expiration (and how), companies are strongly encouraged to:

• write their lawmakers about GSP renewal with our Contact Congress tool
• join the Coalition for GSP
• add their name to the free GSP supporter list
• answer our very short survey on GSP expiration impacts to date

For many years, TRI’s GSP savings funded multiple full-time salaries. Despite loss of GSP for products imported from India and Turkey, GSP “still saves our company the equivalent of more than a full-time employee’s annual salary.”

Watch TRI Executive Vice President and CFO Jeff Wright explain how “maintaining full employment, full wages, and employee benefits is our top priority as is supporting our US customers who are trying to do the same for their American workers” – and how GSP renewal would help them do it.

If you’re a GSP importer, submit your own video testimonial here.

Lost GSP for India and Turkey cost American companies as much as $33 million in extra tariffs in July, including up to $26.5 million in new taxes on imports from India and $6.5 million on imports from Turkey. The impacts of the decisions are clear, as shown in the graph below. Before June 2019, year-over-year GSP rose in 37 straight months.

GSP savings from other countries continued to grow, increasing $18.4 million (30%) from September 2018 to September 2019. Savings on imports from Cambodia grew by $10.9 million, from Indonesia by $4.1 million, from Burma by $2.1 million, and from the Philippines by $1.6 million.

By value, the states with the largest year-over-year savings declines were Florida (-$2.1 million), New Jersey (-$2.1 million), Texas (-$2.1 million), Pennsylvania (-$1.1 million), New York (-$984,000), Michigan (-$955,000), North Carolina (-$878,000), Louisiana (-$605,000), Iowa (-$545,000), and Massachusetts (-$490,000).

Savings for companies in Delaware declined over 90%, driven by lost GSP for India. Savings for companies in Maine declined by 84%, resulting from broader-based declines in imports from Brazil, India, Thailand, etc.

Fifteen states saw GSP savings increase in September. Among those, California (+$3.4 million) accounted for 60% of GSP savings increases.

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.

Some states such as Georgia and North Carolina saw much larger increases in GSP imports and savings compared to the previous year, as shown in the graphic below.

GSP saved Georgia companies $3.9 million in December, up $1.3 million (49 percent) compared to one year earlier. Metal products from Brazil, luggage from Thailand,  and chemicals from India contributed the most to Georgia’s GSP savings increases.

GSP saved North Carolina companies $2.0 million in December, up $577,000 (39 percent) compared to one year earlier. Chemicals from the Philippines, furniture fittings from Thailand, and wood products from Indonesia contributed most to North Carolina’s GSP increases.

In addition to Georgia and North Carolina, companies in 26 other states saw GSP savings increase by at least 20 percent, including: California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

Savings on GSP imports from Indonesia increased by 31 percent compared to December of last year. California companies’ alone imported $4.6 million in silver jewelry under GSP in December. GSP eliminated about $1.5 million in import taxes on mangoes and guavas in December. About two-thirds of those savings were on imports into New Jersey.

*** REMINDER: GSP EXPIRED EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1.***

The House passed GSP renewal legislation in February, but the Senate must pass legislation for GSP benefits to resume. Please use our Contact Congress tool to write your Senators about GSP renewal; answer our brief survey on how GSP expiration impacts you, and/or sign up for the free GSP supporter list to show the broad support for renewal.

GSP imports were up by 14 percent – and tariffs savings were up by 25 percent – compared to November 2016. Year-to-date savings from GSP are up $118 million, or nearly $11 million per month, over the first 11 months of 2016.

November was the first month that U.S. government data started reflecting imports under the recent travel goods expansion (though companies have been saving since July 1). GSP savings on travel goods jumped about $5 million from October to November and July-October savings likely will be revised up by similar amounts.

Some states such as Louisiana and New York saw much larger increases in GSP imports and savings compared to the previous year, as shown in the graphic below.

GSP saved Louisiana companies $1.0 million in November, up $529,000 (104 percent) compared to one year earlier. Ferrochromium from South Africa, zinc from India, and tropical plywood from Cambodia contributed the most to Louisiana’s GSP savings increases.

GSP saved New York companies $7.2 million in November, up $2.3 million (46 percent) compared to one year earlier. Chemicals from India and Brazil, jewelry from Indonesia, and eye-wear from Thailand contributed most to New York’s GSP increases.

In addition to Louisiana and New York, companies in 25 other states saw GSP savings increase by at least 20 percent, including: Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Savings on GSP imports from Egypt increased by 30 percent compared to November of last year. Texas companies’ alone imported $836,000 in activated clays under GSP in November. GSP eliminated about $10 million (!) in import taxes on travel goods in November, the first month the data reflect the recent expansion. About one-third of those savings were on imports into New Jersey.

*** REMINDER: GSP EXPIRED EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1.***

Please see our expiration post on what to do now to expedite any potential refund process and help renew GSP swiftly.

GSP imports were up by 22 percent – and tariffs savings were up by 28 percent – compared to October 2016. Year-to-date savings from GSP are up $102 million, or about $10 million per month, over the first 10 months of 2016.

And those reported savings remain significantly understated: official U.S. government data on GSP imports won’t start reflecting imports under the recent travel goods expansion until next month (though companies have been saving since July 1). Including the travel goods savings could add $5-$10 million more in benefits for American companies per month.

Some states such as Massachusetts and Kansas saw much larger increases in GSP imports and savings compared to the previous year, as shown in the graphic below.

GSP saved Massachusetts companies $792,000 in October, up $274,000 (53 percent) compared to one year earlier. Sports gloves from Thailand, optical equipment from the Philippines, and aluminum profiles from Turkey contributed the most to Massachusetts’ GSP savings increases.

GSP saved Kansas companies $277,000 in October, up $163,000 (143 percent) compared to one year earlier. Inorganic acids and pesticides from India, and rubber piping from Brazil contributed most to Kansas’ GSP increases.

In addition to Massachusetts and Kansas, companies in 26 other states saw GSP savings increase by at least 20 percent, including: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

Savings on GSP imports from India increased by 30 percent compared to October of last year. Iowa companies’ purchases of carboxylic acids alone resulted in $282,000 in GSP savings. GSP eliminated about $698,000 in import taxes on aluminum foil in October, with $107,000 of those savings coming from imports into Illinois.

*** REMINDER: GSP EXPIRES IN JUST A FEW WEEKS.***

Please use our Contact Congress page to write your Members today about the need to renew GSP today (the letter text was updated December 5). That page makes it quick and easy to email both Senators and your Representative. All you need to do is: 1) enter your contact info, 2) enter a few sentences about your company/GSP imports, and 3) click send.

• That is the highest reported monthly savings since October 2008.
• GSP imports were up by 17 percent – and tariffs savings were up by 21 percent – compared to August 2016.
• Year-to-date savings from GSP are up $72 million, or $9 million per month, over the first 8 months of 2016.

All that despite the fact that August savings are likely significantly understated: official U.S. government data show no claimed GSP benefits for imports of travel goods from countries such as Thailand and the Philippines in July or August despite a recent program expansion.

Put differently: GSP program usage is booming. Some states such as New Jersey and Texas saw much larger increases in GSP imports and savings compared to the previous year, as shown in the graphic below.

GSP saved New Jersey companies $7.4 million in August, up over $2.3 million (45 percent) compared to one year earlier. Travel goods from Burma and Cambodia, precious metal compounds from South Africa, and stone products from Brazil contributed most to New Jersey’s GSP increases.

GSP saved Texas companies $7.1 million in August, up over $1.7 million (32 percent) compared to one year earlier. Industrial machinery from Thailand, PET resin from Brazil, and stainless steel flanges from India contributed most to Texas’ GSP increases.

In addition to New Jersey and Texas, companies in 17 other states saw GSP savings increase by at least 20 percent, including: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Savings on GSP imports from Cambodia increased by 307 percent compared to August of last year. New York companies’ purchases of travel goods from Cambodia alone resulted in $740,000 in GSP savings. As companies gear up for the holiday season, GSP eliminated about $1.4 million in import taxes on Christmas lights in August, with over $250,000 of those savings coming from imports into Washington.

*** REMINDER: GSP EXPIRES IN JUST A FEW MONTHS.***

Please use our Contact Congress page to write your Members today about the need to renew GSP today. That page makes it quick and easy to email both Senators and your Representative. All you need to do is: 1) enter your contact info, 2) enter a few sentences about your company/GSP imports, and 3) click send.