US to cut duties on goods from tsunami-hit states
Reuters, Washington
The United States will cut import duties on $500 million worth of goods from Asian countries hit by last year's tsunami, but raise them on over $1 billion worth of imports from other developing nations, US trade officials said Thursday.The Bush administration made the changes as part of its annual review of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which allows eligible developing countries to export certain goods to the United States without paying duties. "It is our hope that by promoting increased trade with the United States, we can help these nations recover from the tsunami ... and generate broad-based economic growth," US Trade Representative Rob Portman said in a statement. The review will also allow Iraq to export certain fresh or whole packed dates to the United States without duties. Washington will eliminate tariffs on about $500 million worth of products from Thailand and Indonesia, two of the countries hit by one of history's worst natural disasters. Certain tsunami-affected countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will be permitted to count inputs from any SAARC country toward meeting the GSP program's rules of origin, the US trade office said.
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