USRPA Supports Removing Duty-Free Benefits For Foreign Rice
KATY, TEXAS
USRPA submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representative in support of removing duty-free benefits for foreign rice entering the U.S. under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). GSP provides the opportunity for many of the world’s poorest countries to use preferential trade access to the U.S. to grow their economies and climb out of poverty. Access for rice under GSP means that rice from developing countries enters the U.S. duty-free, and not all of those countries play by the rules of fair competition.
Recent estimates show that 20 percent of rice consumed in the U.S. is of foreign origin. As U.S. farmers struggle to maintain and grow new markets for U.S. rice, granting duty-free access to foreign competitors is short-sighted. In 2019, foreign countries shipped duty-free rice in an amount valued over $2.2 million to the United States, an amount that increased almost 60 percent from 2018 shipments. Most of the duty-free rice came from Cambodia, which shipped rice valued at more than $2 million in 2019, an increase of 76 percent from 2018 rice shipments to the U.S.
“USRPA urges USTR to address the trade-distorting practices of countries that unfairly subsidize rice production and exports, compromising market access and price for U.S. rice,” USRPA stated in the comments which were co-signed by affiliate state organizations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, California and Texas. “GSP is a unilateral program accorded by the U.S. government without receiving reciprocal access for U.S. products in the partner country,” USRPA continued.
USTR will decide whether to remove duty-free benefits for foreign rice entering the U.S. by November 1. ∆