On Friday, May 31, 2019, the President of the United States signed a Proclamation to Modify the List of Beneficiary Developing Countries which removes India from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) effective June 5, 2019. This action is a follow-up to the initial announcement on March 4, 2019. By statute, a 60-day notice to the U.S. Congress and India was required before the removal from GSP could become effective.

India is being removed from the list of beneficiary countries following the determination that India has not assured the U.S. that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. The United States Trade Representative had previously said that “India has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on United States commerce.”

The proclamation also removes India from the list of developing country WTO members exempt (under specific conditions) from section 201 safeguard tariff-rate quotes, which the U.S. imposed in 2018, on large residential washing machines and crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells, whether or not partially or fully assembled into other products (“CSPV products”).

For more information, please contact your local MIQ Logistics, a company of Noatum Logistics representative.