Cheaper imports under World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) generalized system of preferences, or GSP, help US firms, says India
India has made a final plea for continuation of the generalized system of preferences (GSP) benefits currently under review before the US Trade Representative (USTR), arguing that the cheaper imports of intermediary products from India enable availability of cost-effective and price-competitive inputs to the US downstream industries and helps the US firms remain domestically and internationally competitive.
The GSP programme allows duty-free entry of 1,937 products worth $5.6 billion from India into the US, benefitting exporters of textiles, engineering, gems and jewellery and chemical products.
In its initial submission during the hearing, India had threatened to drag the US to the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO, claiming withdrawal of the GSP benefits would be “discriminatory, arbitrary and detrimental” to its developmental needs.
In its post-hearing submission, while answering the queries raised by the USTR GSP sub-committee and other US industry lobbies, India has maintained that GSP benefits are integral and catalytic in promoting the pace and sequence of domestic and external economic reforms in India. “It needs hardly be over-emphasized that the products on which India receive GSP benefits belong to sectors which employ several thousands of men and women, especially in rural areas through micro, small and medium enterprises. Furthermore, India’s GSP exports represent a minuscule part of the total imports of the United States and do not pose any threat or disruption to the US industry,” it said. Mint has reviewed a copy of India’s final submission before the USTR.
While the US has been trying to leverage the GSP review to gain more market access in India, India has at least through the written submission, made it clear that the benefits should be “unconditional and not contingent upon reciprocal market access for goods, services or other emerging areas of trade.”
However, India on Saturday deferred till 18 September tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs against the 29 US products worth $235 million intended to counter a US move to unilaterally raise import duties on Indian steel and aluminium products. India’s move is seen as a conciliatory measure pending the GSP review and the upcoming “2+2” dialogue among their foreign and defence ministers on 6 September of the two countries.
US supermarket major Walmart in its submission to the USTR has come out in support of continuation of GSP programme for India, holding that it provides significant benefits to Walmart customers and US suppliers by reducing costs. “We support the administration’s efforts to work with GSP countries to concretely address market access and other GSP eligibility concerns but caution against undermining or weakening the significant policy and development benefits embodied in the GSP programme. Revoking GSP-eligibility from GSP countries risks undermining US interests and benefits from GSP while jeopardizing the significant development opportunities GSP has created for poorer countries and workers around the world,” it added.
The USTR in April announced that it is reviewing the GSP eligibility of India, along with Indonesia and Kazakhstan, after the US dairy industry and the US medical device industry requested a review of India’s GSP benefits, given India’s alleged trade barriers affecting US exports in these sectors. Total US imports under GSP in 2017 was $21.2 billion, of which India was the biggest beneficiary with $5.6 billion, followed by Thailand ($4.2 billion) and Brazil ($2.5 billion).

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