The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that it will review the eligibility of Turkey to participate in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program based on the Trump Administration’s concerns related to its compliance with the GSP market access criterion.
The USTR stated that this criterion, one of fifteen defined by the US Congress in the statute authorizing the GSP program, covers the extent to which beneficiary countries have assured the US reasonable and equitable access to their markets.
According to the USTR, Turkey has imposed additional tariffs on $1.78 billion of US imports only and not to other trading partners. However, the US imported $1.66 billion in 2017 from Turkey under the GSP program, representing 17.7 percent of total US imports from Turkey. The leading GSP import categories were vehicles and vehicle parts, jewelry and precious metals, and stone articles.
A public hearing and comment period for Turkey’s GSP eligibility review will be announced later.
The GSP program is the largest and oldest US trade preference program and is designed to promote economic development in developing countries by allowing duty-free entry for several thousand categories of products, as defined by the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, from designated beneficiary countries.