The action was taken after the Trump administration determined that India failed to provide the U.S. with fair market access.
President Donald Trump on Friday issued a proclamation to terminate India’s status as a beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
India’s revocation from GSP will become effective Wednesday.
Trump’s proclamation notes the GSP statutory requirement for the president to take into account the extent to which a country has assured the U.S. that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets and basic commodity resources of such country and the extent to which the country has assured the U.S. that it will refrain from engaging in unreasonable export practices.
“I have determined that India has not assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets,” Trump said in the proclamation. “Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India’s designation as a beneficiary developing country.”
Pursuant to the GSP proclamation, effective Wednesday, imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and large residential washers from India will be subject to Section 201 safeguard tariffs imposed on such products in January 2018.
Imports of those products from India had been exempt from the tariffs, as the presidential Section 201 proclamations exempt imports from developing World Trade Organization member countries if a country’s individual share of total imports doesn’t exceed 3% and if imports of all such countries with less than 3% import share don’t collectively account for more than 9% of total imports of the product.
The Trump administration removed Turkey from GSP on May 17.
