Quotes from release:

Laura Baughman, Executive Director of the Coalition for GSP: “A large and growing chorus of American companies and trade associations has been urging Congress to renew the GSP program. After paying millions of dollars in new tariffs, many of these companies are at their breaking point. We look forward to working with all Members of the House of Representatives for the swift passage of this legislation.”

Daniel Anthony, Research Director of the Coalition for GSP: “Retroactive reauthorization of the GSP program will infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy. This money will help American companies, and primarily small businesses, hire new employees, expand their operations, and get the U.S. economy moving in the right direction – House action on the bill cannot come soon enough.”

Clearly, the List is resonating on Capitol Hill.  So it’s probably not surprising that we received multiple emails last night/this morning asking to be added.  As a result, the list surpassed 300 companies and associations this morning.

The GSP issue is far from resolved and we will need all the help we can get, so if your company isn’t on the Supporter List yet, please add your name by clicking here.

Since the vote is expected to take place tonight, we asking companies to use our updated Email Your Representatives page to contact trade staff today expressing support for H.R. 2832. Phone calls asking where the office stands on H.R. 2832 would also be helpful.  Keep us posted if you hear back from your members.

Finally, several “big picture” stories recently about the trade agenda and the role of the House vote on GSP in that process, including this one from The Hill and this one from Reuters.  As you can see, this is just the first step for GSP renewal.

GSP Supporter List companies dZi and Swing Design, both based in Massachusetts, talk about the price increases they must endure.  Marideth Sandler, a former head of the GSP program (and longtime friend of the Coalition for GSP) who is working with embassies of GSP beneficiary countries to press for renewal, also talks about the impact on developing country exports to the United States.

“Businesses that have remained competitive due in part to their use of the program are now burdened with significant – and unexpected – costs. These new expenses could create cash-flow difficulties that slow business, impede growth, and potentially lead some companies to close their operations.”

Since Congress is now at home for the August recess, it would be great if Op-Eds like this appeared in local newspapers as well.  If you’re successful in getting the local paper to publish your story about the need to renew GSP, please send us the link so we can link to it here.

As Congress and the Administration move ahead on a potential “grand bargain” on trade this summer, they must include a renewal of the GSP program. American businesses, small and large alike, depend on it.

The Chamber is a longtime supporter of the Coalition for GSP and we cannot thank our friends there enough for their hard work on this issue over the years.

That got us thinking: how much is a sleeping bag worth? 

Doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations, it seems that Congress was willing to raise taxes on about $4,236 worth of goods for every $1 worth of sleeping bags imported from Bangladesh last year.  What if we look at the number of bags instead of the value? Well, the United States imported 703,694 sleeping bags from Bangladesh in 2010, so $32,051 worth of goods in a variety of industries lost duty-free benefits for each sleeping bag imported from Bangladesh last year.

If you’re like me, you’re probably mumbling to yourself right about now.  And it gets worse…

That $5.3 million for 703,694 bags figure represents all sleeping bags imported from Bangladesh, not just the ones that entered duty free.  GSP imports in 2010 totaled just $3.3 million for 436,002 sleeping bags.  A new envelope and several calculations later, we see that Congress raised taxes on $6,746 worth of goods for every $1 worth of sleeping bags imported from Bangladesh under GSP last year, or an astonishing $51,729 per sleeping bag.

So we have an answer to our question: a sleeping bag is worth nearly $52,000, at least in terms of action/inaction on U.S. trade policy.

Frustrated?  Upset?  If you’re one of the people paying those costs, then do something about it.  Make your voice heard by signing our GSP Supporter List, taking our GSP expiration poll, sending emails to your Senators and Representatives, and joining the Coalition for GSP.

Do you think it’s “fair” that companies throughout the United States are being forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in new tariffs for the benefit of a single company?

If not, let your Senators know.  What can you do?

• Join the Coalition for GSP to increase our grassroots lobbying power.
• Click here to add your company name to the GSP Supporter List.  If you’re already on the List, ask associations to which you belong to add their names as well.
• Click here to take our online poll on the impacts of GSP expiration.
• Email your Senators from this page.  If you’ve already emailed them, well…do it again.
• Use every medium at your disposal to spread this link and make sure Congress understands that the only “fair” option is to renew GSP immediately!

Mr. Kazazian [the owner of the company] says his product — sleeping bags — should not be included in the program, but a quasi-judicial agency, the United States International Trade Commission, has disagreed. Most sleeping bags in the United States are imported from China, and indeed, Mr. Kazazian controls a sleeping-bag plant there.

This piece follows a a flurry of articles on GSP expiration (several weeks back) in the NYT, Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Time.

As you can see in the graph below, imports under GSP have been rising steadily since September 2009,  when the United States slapped 35% tariffs on tire imports from China.  GSP imports even continued to rise – albeit more slowly – after Thailand lost its GSP-eligibility on one of the two types of radial tires in July 2010!

Since GSP expired, radial tires now face tariffs of 4%.  How companies choose to deal with that price increase varies.  Tire Business published an article yesterday (possibly gated) on GSP expiration.  It quotes G.S. Sareen, the managing director of Omni United, which expects to sell more than 1 million tires this year imported from Indonesia:

“Omni United believes that this lapse could be temporary and has decided to absorb 50 percent of the extra tariff imposed, which has resulted in an increase of approximately 2 percent.”

Like many companies, Omni has decided to take a chance and not raise prices by the full tariff rate.  However, if Congress fails to renew GSP – or the renewal is not made retroactive – the Florida-based company will lose 2% of its profit on each of the million plus tires it expects to sell from Indonesia.  In addition to its Miami and Jacksonville operations, lost profits could affect facilities in Evergreen, Colorado, Traverse City and Kingsley, Michigan, and Lindstrom, Minnesota.

Even if Omni comes out of this alright, what about you?  Companies like Omni may be willing to foot some of the bill, but they’re not paying all of it.  The rest falls on customers like you (and me).