President Trump issued proclamation 9687 on December 22, 2017 to take certain actions under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Israel Free Trade Agreement (IL FTA), the Central American Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), and other technical changes.
AGOA Changes for Gambia and Swaziland:
Gambia and the Kingdom of Swaziland are restored as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under AGOA effective January 1, 2017. Both had lost AGOA eligibility in 2015. These benefits will remain in effect through Sept. 30, 2025. This is the result of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) finding that Gambia has made progress in strengthening the rule of law, improving human rights, and supporting political pluralism; and that Swaziland met the last of a series of benchmarks set by the U.S. related to lifting restrictions on freedoms of assembly, association, and expression.
GSP Changes for Argentina and Ukraine**:
Argentina: GSP eligibility is restored for some Argentina products effective January 1, 2018. Argentina had lost GSP eligibility in 2012. GSP was restored due to the USTR finding that certain arbitral disputes with U.S. companies have been resolved; that new commitments were made to improve market access for U.S. agriculture products; and improved IPR protection and enforcement.
Ukraine: GSP eligibility for certain product of the Ukraine, as provided in Annex III of this proclamation may be suspended within 120 days, if remedies are not made in providing adequate and effective protection of IPRs.
**Note that GSP expires December 31, 2017, until or unless renewed, so they will have little immediate effect.
IL FTA:
Under the IL FTA, duty-free access into the U.S. has been extended through the close of December 31, 2018, for specified quantities of certain agricultural products of Israel, as provided in Annex I of this proclamation. These had been due to expire December 31, 2017.
CAFTA-DR:
Modifications were made to the Rules of Origin used to determine eligibility under the CAFTA-DR. These are found in Annex II of this proclamation. These modifications will be effective on a future date to be announced by the USTR in the Federal Register.
Other Technical Modifications:
-Pharmaceutical Appendix:
Modifications were made to the pharmaceuticals appendix to the HTS, effective on or after January 1, 2018, to subheading 2843.29.01, and 3907.99.50, by inserting the symbol, ‘‘K’’, into the parenthetical expression in the Rates of Duty Special subcolumn.
-Civil Aircraft:
Modifications were made to subheading 9030.33.34 of the HTS, inserting the symbol, ‘C’, to Special Rates of Duty, effective on or after July 1, 2016.
-Other:
Certain additional conforming changes to the HTS were made to additional U.S. note 1 to chapter 21 of the HTS, deleting‘2202.90.30, 2202.90.35, 2202.90.36 and 2202.90.37’ and inserting ‘2202.99.30, 2202.99.35, 2202.99.36 and 2202.99.37’ in lieu thereof. These are effective on the thirtieth day after the date of publication of this proclamation in the Federal Register.
If you have any questions regarding FTA or tariff modifications made pursuit to Presidential Proclamation 9687, Livingston can help! Please contact either your Livingston account manager or our regulatory affairs group at usregaffairs@livingstonintl.com.