U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., announced this week that he and U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., sent a letter to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee’s leadership calling on them to renew the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program which has expired.
“Established nearly 50 years ago, the GSP program boosts economic development by removing tariffs on non-sensitive goods from 119 developing countries. China is not a qualified country. The GSP program expired on December 31, 2020. Without the program, the billions of dollars of additional costs due to increased tariffs burden American companies,” Dunn’s office noted. “The letter requests legislation to renew the GSP program. Previous votes to renew the program received overwhelming bipartisan support.”
Dunn weighed in on the letter on Wednesday.
“With the Chinese Communist Party becoming more aggressive each day, reducing America’s reliance on China is more critical than ever,” said Dunn. “China benefits from the expiration of the GSP program, and our companies pay the price. We know GSP works. We know that it has bipartisan support. Legislation to renew the program is long overdue.”
More than 60 House members signed the letter, including U.S. Reps. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., Kat Cammack, R-Fla., Kathy Castor, D-Fla., Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., Laurel Lee, R-Fla., Brian Mast, R-Fla., John Rutherford, R-Fla., Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Frederica Wilson, D-Fla.
