Chemicals Trade Group Asks Trump to Support Return of GSP

The Alliance for Chemical Distribution asked the Trump administration to support a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program in Congress. The GSP program has been expired for more than four years.

In a letter sent Feb. 24, the trade group said that many "small U.S. businesses, including ACD members, rely on the lower duty costs afforded by the GSP Program to remain competitive in the marketplace and reduce their reliance on China."

It said U.S. companies paid more than $3 billion in tariffs in the first three years of the GSP lapse that they would not have owed if GSP had been in force, and chemical imports' forgone GSP benefits averaged $242 million.

"According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, chemicals make up about 10.3 percent of input costs for products and services at the producer level. This means that the tariffs paid on previously duty-free products alone lead to an annualized price increase at the producer level of 0.03 percent," the group argued.

They said that the imports support "American workers such as longshoremen, truck drivers, and trade brokers," as well as warehouse workers, retailers and manufacturers who use the inputs.