AAFA, USFIA File Post-Hearing Briefs to USTR on GSP Travel Goods Review
The American Apparel and Footwear Association and the U.S. Fashion Industry Association (USFIA) were among groups that filed briefs to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative after the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee held a hearing Oct. 18 as part of its consideration of whether to apply Generalized System of Preferences benefits for travel goods to all program beneficiaries. In an eight-page submission (here), AAFA asserted that the hearing provided “a strong and convincing record” that conferring benefits for travel goods originating in all GSP-eligible nations would align with statutory criteria, after USTR deferred GSP decisions for “beneficiary developing countries” (BDCs) on June 30 (see 1610180063). Expansion of the travel goods designation would support development throughout BDCs, including impoverished areas, AAFA said. “Countries excluded from the June 30 decision have huge pockets of poverty and significant development needs,” the association said. “Clearly, designating travel goods for these other countries would have huge development impacts.”
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AAFA also pointed out that through enactment of the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, which removed a statutory exclusion for certain travel goods to be added to the GSP program, Congress did not intend the lifting of the exclusion to apply to any particular grouping of GSP countries. “Had Congress wanted to restrict the application of Section 204, it would have done so,” AAFA said. “In fact, Congress did just that -- with respect to certain cotton articles -- in Section 202.” In a separate letter (here) to USTR, USFIA said greater access to GSP benefits would allow more opportunities for "the production of high-fashion and performance bags, purses, and luggage ... [and] would encourage sourcing diversification among some of the world's poorest countries.”