US bill to extend trade programme of which India is biggest beneficiary

WASHINGTON : A legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives that seeks to extend a trade promotion programme of which India was the largest beneficiary and had waited for word about its fate after it expired the on the midnight of December 31.

The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme allows select developing countries to export some products duty-free to the US. India was its top beneficiary in 2016, exporting goods worth $4.7 billion to the US under GSP, equal in worth to nearly 10% of India’s exports to the US under normal trade relations of $41.36 bn.

There were concerns among Indian trade officials and companies that the Trump administration’s stress on ‘America First’ and cutting trade deficit could alter the programme, or let it remain lapsed, in ways that could deny India the advantages it enjoyed.

The bill, proposing to extend the programme by three years, was introduced by trade subcommittee chairman Dave Reichert, ways and means chairman Kevin Brady and Jackie Walorski from the Republican side and ways and means ranking member Richard Neal and Trade Subcommittee ranking member Bill Pascrell, both Democrats.

The legislation, which New Delhi will be watching closely, also seeks to introduce a new reporting requirement that will improve the effectiveness of Congressional oversight of enforcement of the eligibility criteria, the impact of which on India was not clear. HTC