{ "id": "RS22541", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RS22541", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 457571, "date": "2016-12-08", "retrieved": "2016-12-22T16:33:59.215402", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences: Agricultural Imports", "summary": "The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) provides duty-free tariff treatment for certain products from designated developing countries. Agricultural imports under GSP totaled $2.6 billion in 2015, nearly 15% of the value of all U.S. GSP imports. Leading agricultural imports (based on value) include processed foods and food processing inputs; beverages and drinking waters; processed and fresh fruits and vegetables; sugar and sugar confectionery; olive oil; and miscellaneous food preparations and inputs for further processing. The majority of these imports are from Thailand, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Turkey, which combined account for roughly two-thirds of total agricultural GSP imports.\nGSP was most recently extended until December 31, 2017 (Title II of P.L. 114-27). Expiration of the program in 2017 means that GSP renewal could be a legislative issue in the 115th Congress. Additional background information on such legislation is available in CRS Report RL33663, Generalized System of Preferences: Overview and Issues for Congress.\nOver the past decade, GSP renewal has been somewhat controversial. Some in Congress have continued to call for changes to the program. Both Congress and the previous Administrations have made changes to the program regarding product coverage (e.g., the type of products that can be imported under the program) and country eligibility (e.g., limiting GSP benefits to certain countries). Both Congress and the previous Administrations have tightened and/or expanded the program\u2019s requirements on imports under certain circumstances. In recent years, a number of countries have had their GSP status revoked, including Argentina and Russia, among others. In September 2015, President Obama announced, among other things, that Seychelles, Uruguay, and Venezuela had become \u201chigh income\u201d countries and were no longer eligible to receive GSP benefits, effective January 1, 2017. Also, as part of the most recent GSP extension, Congress designated a few new product categories as eligible for GSP status, including some cotton products (for least-developed beneficiaries only) and other non-agricultural products. \nCongressional leaders have continued to express an interest in evaluating the effectiveness of U.S. trade preference programs, including GSP, and broader reform of these programs might be possible. Opinion within the U.S. agriculture industry is mixed, reflecting both support for and opposition to the current program.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RS22541", "sha1": "fa775136f31b32f2e393aa20052b4056eb01c282", "filename": "files/20161208_RS22541_fa775136f31b32f2e393aa20052b4056eb01c282.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RS22541", "sha1": "15dd75cfdd9a7c4d9f1417e692f049107af6c79c", "filename": "files/20161208_RS22541_15dd75cfdd9a7c4d9f1417e692f049107af6c79c.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4829, "name": "Agricultural Trade & Food Aid" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4865, "name": "Import Policy" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4893, "name": "Agricultural Trade" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 437113, "date": "2015-01-14", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:41:10.586823", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences: Agricultural Imports", "summary": "The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) provides duty-free tariff treatment for certain products from designated developing countries. Agricultural imports under GSP totaled $2.5 billion in 2012, nearly 13% of the value of all U.S. GSP imports. Leading agricultural imports include processed foods and food processing inputs, sugar and sugar confectionery, cocoa, processed and fresh fruits and vegetables, beverages and drinking waters, olive oil, processed meats, and miscellaneous food preparations and inputs for further processing. The majority of these imports are from Thailand, Brazil, India, Indonesia, and Turkey, which combined account for nearly two-thirds of total agricultural GSP imports. \nGSP was most recently extended until July 31, 2013 (P.L. 112-40), but was not renewed before it expired. In the past few years, Congress has extended GSP through a series of short-term extensions. Previously Congress has renewed GSP retroactively, and not prior to expiration. \nThe expiration of GSP means that renewal of the program may continue to be a legislative issue in the 114th Congress. In recent years, GSP renewal has been somewhat controversial. Some in Congress have continued to call for changes to the program that could limit GSP benefits to certain countries, among other changes. Opinion within the U.S. agriculture industry is mixed, reflecting both support for and opposition to the current program. The 113th Congress introduced but did not enact legislation to renew GSP. Additional background information on such legislation is available in CRS Report RL33663, Generalized System of Preferences: Background and Renewal Debate.\nLeaders of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have continued to express an interest in evaluating the effectiveness of U.S. trade preference programs, including GSP, and broader reform of these programs might be possible. Congress made changes to the program in 2006, tightening its requirements on imports under certain circumstances. \nIn addition, recently some countries have been suspended from or included in GSP. Many in Congress were critical of Russia\u2019s status as a GSP beneficiary following its invasion of Crimea in 2014. In May 2014, President Obama notified Congress that he intended to graduate Russia from the program, and later officially terminated Russia\u2019s GSP status in October 2014. Also, in June 2013, the President announced the suspension of GSP benefits for Bangladesh, but is currently reviewing this decision. \nPreviously, in March 2012, President Obama suspended GSP benefits for Argentina. Argentina had been among one of the top two beneficiary countries of agricultural imports under the program, after Thailand, accounting for more than one-tenth of all agricultural imports under GSP (ranked by import value). Under the program, Argentina exported more than $380 million of agricultural products in 2012, including casein, olive oil, prepared meats, gelatin derivatives, cheese and curd, sugar confectionery, wine, and other food products. The President suspended GSP benefits for Argentina because \u201cit has not acted in good faith in enforcing arbitral awards in favor of United States citizens or a corporation, partnership, or association that is 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens.\u201d", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RS22541", "sha1": "9a9b54ea10d33c3223fec2df0f59afee8110a4eb", "filename": "files/20150114_RS22541_9a9b54ea10d33c3223fec2df0f59afee8110a4eb.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RS22541", "sha1": "45db9a05817e06bf3dd0db443ff6c6065b87e70c", "filename": "files/20150114_RS22541_45db9a05817e06bf3dd0db443ff6c6065b87e70c.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 217, "name": "Agricultural Trade" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2212, "name": "Import Policy" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc276892/", "id": "RS22541_2014Jan10", "date": "2014-01-10", "retrieved": "2014-03-05T18:18:19", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences: Agricultural Imports", "summary": "This report discusses the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which provides duty-free tariff treatment for certain products from designated developing countries. Opinion within the U.S. agriculture industry is mixed, reflecting both support for and opposition to the current program. The 111th Congress did not extend the GSP in 2010, and it was set to expire December 31, 2010, which will likely become a legislative issue in the 112th Congress.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20140110_RS22541_0c8b9385b44eafba96074bdf04f590aee5de1398.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20140110_RS22541_0c8b9385b44eafba96074bdf04f590aee5de1398.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade", "name": "Trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Tariff preferences", "name": "Tariff preferences" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade -- Developing countries", "name": "Trade -- Developing countries" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture", "name": "Agriculture" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Imports", "name": "Imports" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc817444/", "id": "RS22541_2012Nov21", "date": "2012-11-21", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences: Agricultural Imports", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20121121_RS22541_c464b7b779eb2eae05c97487a443eb3c347db5f9.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20121121_RS22541_c464b7b779eb2eae05c97487a443eb3c347db5f9.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31496/", "id": "RS22541_2011Jan03", "date": "2011-01-03", "retrieved": "2011-03-09T09:26:47", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences: Agricultural Imports", "summary": "The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) provides duty-free tariff treatment for certain products from designated developing countries. Some in Congress have continued to call for changes to the program that could limit GSP benefits to certain countries, among other changes. Opinion within the U.S. agriculture industry is mixed, reflecting both support for and opposition to the current program. In the past few years, Congress has extended GSP through a series of short-term extensions. However, the 111th Congress did not extend the GSP in 2010, and it was set to expire December 31, 2010. The expiration of the GSP will likely become a legislative issues in the 112th Congress.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20110103_RS22541_1a8aa5ec4fc20b8c657a5dd3e23ecafba66988ca.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20110103_RS22541_1a8aa5ec4fc20b8c657a5dd3e23ecafba66988ca.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade", "name": "Trade" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Tariff preferences", "name": "Tariff preferences" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Trade - Developing countries", "name": "Trade - Developing countries" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Agriculture", "name": "Agriculture" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Imports", "name": "Imports" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc818209/", "id": "RS22541_2008Nov10", "date": "2008-11-10", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences: Agricultural Imports", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20081110_RS22541_35e8da0705f29b52d98da5ca7990eeebbbd16a8f.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20081110_RS22541_35e8da0705f29b52d98da5ca7990eeebbbd16a8f.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc815855/", "id": "RS22541_2006Nov29", "date": "2006-11-29", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Generalized System of Preferences Renewal: Agricultural Imports", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20061129_RS22541_f2b7b4936ef38316b7632e27c346e27a561c1405.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20061129_RS22541_f2b7b4936ef38316b7632e27c346e27a561c1405.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Agricultural Policy", "Foreign Affairs" ] }