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

Cell cast acrylic is the raw material used to create the barriers in almost every public space, where one person must interact with another, throughout the entire United States. Cell cast acrylic production in the United States is limited. Imposing duties on products that do not threaten U.S. manufacturing and in fact, create thousands of fabrication and installation jobs, would have resulted in high COVID barrier costs which would have siphoned funds from the purchase of all types of PPE’s during this pandemic.

Put differently: the materials for the plastic barriers now installed everywhere aren’t available from U.S. sources, and GSP helps keep costs low so money can be better spent on other protective measures.

The acrylics example is important for two reasons: 1) everyone has seen the new plastic barriers even if they don’t know what they’re made from, and 2) they would never be classified as a “medical product” in the traditional sense of “what’s needed to battle Covid-19?” For example, they are nowhere to be found in the USITC’s recent report COVID-19 Related Goods: U.S. Imports and Tariffs.

The trade data shows demand for cell cast acrylics has surged in recent months. Compared to 2019, GSP imports were up about 80% in May 2020, 130% in June, and nearly 200% in July. Non-GSP imports were flat in May, up 50% in June and up 100% in July – still strong but clearly showing the important role of GSP benefits in meeting this new demand.

Importers of similar products, such as rubber gloves, have reported similar expectations. One importer of non-medical gloves said current demand for rubber gloves is at least twice – and perhaps as much as nine times – global manufacturing capacity. While lost GSP won’t reduce demand, it could mean up to $10 million annually in extra taxes on rubber gloves alone.

Face masks from Thailand, which lost GSP in April, are the flip side of the coin. Lost GSP won’t reduce Covid-driven demand, but it will raise costs for Americans responding to the pandemic. Congressional failure to renew GSP would add acrylic barriers, rubber gloves, and many other to the list of Covid-related products made “more expensive than necessary” due to tariffs.

Given the strong bipartisan support for GSP (here, or more recently here), hopefully Congress will act soon to avoid this and many other painful tariff hikes for American companies, workers, and consumers.

Overall, GSP saved U.S. companies $600 million in the first 10 months of 2016. GSP savings in 2016 are up about $49 million, or 9 percent, compared to the first 10 months of 2015.

In Louisiana, GSP imports more than doubled and savings increased by about 59 percent compared to one year earlier. Valves and parts from India, copper cathodes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and ferrochromium (typically used to produce stainless steel) from South Africa contributed the most to Louisiana’s GSP increases.

In New Mexico, GSP imports increased by 80 percent and savings from GSP by 144 percent compared to one year earlier. Aluminum products and electric motors from India along with rubber gloves from Thailand and Indonesia contributed most to New Mexico’s GSP increases.

Savings on GSP imports from Armenia increased more than 50 percent to $137,000. GSP eliminated about $223,000 in import taxes on glass construction products (e.g, pavers and blocks) in October, with nearly all of those imports going to Florida.

REMINDER FOR ALL GSP PROGRAM USERS: GSP EXPIRES AT THE END OF 2017. Please click that link to learn about how to get involved in the Coalition for GSP’s renewal activities this year.