USTR releases list of imports that may lose duty-free status
Last week, the US Trade Representative (USTR) released 2011 data through September that indicates trade in certain imported articles from several countries may exceed Competitive Need Limitations (CNL) thresholds under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) … in which cased they could be excluded from duty-free treatment under GSP in the future, unless a waiver is granted.
The USTR December 1 federal register notice is, in effect, a head’s up, based on interim data, that identifies articles from Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Thailand, Turkey, India, Russia, Georgia, and Venezuela that are likely to account for $150 million OR 50% (or more) of US total import trade in those articles. The final determination on the loss of duty-free treatment will be made after the full year’s trade statistics are released in February 2012.
Among the items listed are prepared or preserved beef in airtight containers (HTS 1602.50.20) from Argentina at 74.0% share at the end of September, and undenatured ethyl alcohol of 80% volume alcohol or higher, for beverage purposes (HTS 2207.10.30) from Brazil at 55.8% share. See the full list here.
The USTR will accept petitions for a waiver of CNL: the deadline is Friday, December 16, 2011. See more details here.