Reminder: Last Day to Answer GSP Expiration Survey
Before leaving for the holiday weekend, please answer the GSP expiration impact survey if you haven’t already. It should only take a few minutes. We want the best report possible waiting when Congress returns to DC on September 8, which requires responses from as many GSP importers as possible. All company responses will remain confidential.....
Continue readingA Wholly Predictable (and Avoidable) Situation Unfolds in Slow Motion
On Friday we wrote about these being very tough times for many GSP importers. As we compile responses from our most recent survey, it’s painful to read about how lives have been hurt by GSP expiration. And why? At the most basic level, these people are suffering for two reasons: *only* 99 percent of Senators...
Continue readingVery Tough Times for GSP Importers
We continue to receive responses to our survey on the impacts of GSP expiration after 1 year. To be blunt, they are not pretty. Here are a couple responses we heard this morning: One small business in Illinois laid off a worker yesterday. They have also delayed two hires, so instead of 12 employees they...
Continue readingGSP Expiration Survey: Status Update
To date, we’ve had about 80 responses to our new expiration survey. That’s decent…but we need a whole lot more (especially since our last survey report had ~220 responses). So if you have not done so already, please take a minute to answer the survey. The deadline to respond is next Friday, August 29, but...
Continue readingCompanies in 278 Congressional Districts Now Calling on Congress to Renew GSP
Yesterday, we added three new companies to the GSP supporter list: Aapico Forging in Stamford, Connecticut, Mutual Wheel Company in Moline, Illinois, and Alum-Tech Corp. in West Melbourne, Florida. Aapico Forging was the 8th company company headquartered in Connecticut’s 4th District, while Mutual Wheel company was the 2nd company in Illinois...
Continue readingGSP Expiration Impacts: Renewal Would Allow WA Company to Hire New Workers, Reward Existing Ones
TRInternational (TRI), based in Seattle, Washington, imports over 3 million pounds of eligible chemical products annually from Brazil, Thailand, and Turkey. These are raw materials that in turn are sold primarily to American manufacturers. As we wrote previously, TRI has made the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “Top 100 Fastest Grow...
Continue readingGSP Expiration Impacts: CA Food Importer Delays Hires, Cancels Warehouse Investments
“We have delayed hiring 4 employees due to the expiration of the GSP. Also, our company was planning on investing in a warehouse expansion – about a $300,000 capital expenditure – that has now been cancelled.” The above quote came from a California-based importer of specialty foods from Indonesia. On top of $50,000 in tariff...
Continue readingGSP Expiration Impacts: GA Distributor Missing Opportunities to Expand
Summit Specialty International in Alpharetta, Georgia imports pine interior doors from Brazil that are used for new residential construction. A small company with annual sales of approximately $3 million, the cost of GSP expiration is about 3 percent of annual revenue and has had a tangible impact on the company’s bottom line. According to ow...
Continue readingGSP Expiration Impacts: Small NC Manufacturer Delays Needed Investments
Xpres LLC imports ceramic drink ware products (e.g., coffee mugs) from Thailand under GSP and then provides custom imprinting at its factory in Winston Salem, North Carolina. As a result of GSP expiration, this small manufacturer has paid more than $280,000 in higher taxes – or nearly $10,000 per employee! The high import taxes, combine...
Continue readingGSP Expiration Impacts: “The viability of our 25 year old business is now in jeopardy”
“We could not buy new equipment and computers. We have been eating the bulk of the costs ourselves because we can not pass them on to clients. Our cost of capital financing costs have risen tremendously with our bank, and the GSP expiration has DEFINITELY impacted our bottom line. The viability of our 25 year...
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