Steve Lamar, president and CEO of AAFA, believes the GSP has always had bipartisan support. He added that the record-long lapse has been damaging to American businesses, American workers and beneficiary countries alike, all while handing a huge trade win to China.
In a statement, Lamar said: "Special thank you to Representative Adrian Smith for introduction of this important bill. The apparel and footwear industry encourages Congress to quickly pass the GSP Reform Act. This retroactive renewal is far more effective at making our trusted partners more competitive than misapplied tariffs will ever be to mitigate the costs faced by our nation’s supply chains during this time of continuous disruption.
"Once renewed, this can have a very real impact on the cost and offering of everyday goods such as luggage for summer travel and backpacks for school in the fall."
AAFA described GSP Reform Act as the "largest and oldest" US trade preference programme. It explained the act is design to support economic development in selected developing countries by removing tariff barriers on qualifying products, while supporting worker rights, intellectual property protection and the rule of law in these beneficiary countries.
AAFA also noted that historically, the GSP program has garnered bipartisan and bicameral support since its inception in 1974 as the program requires Congressional re-authorisation.
It added that the refunding of tariffs collected during prior gaps in the program’s operation has been common in previous renewal bills.
Beth Hughes, AAFA vice president, trade and customs policy, added: "We were pleased to see several proposed reforms, including measures to update the competitive need limitation mechanism and open a process to consider currently ineligible products. Such reforms are vital if GSP is to be properly equipped to help companies invest in supply chains as they diversify from China."
Additionally, AAFA recently said it supports new legislation being weighed to investigate price discrepancies between everyday products for women and men.
In December 2023, the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry expressed its satisfaction with the signing of legislation extending the current rules of the GSP amidst concerns over stalled negotiations.
