Today the Senate is continuing debate on legislation to extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) programs.  We expect the Senate to wrap up debate later today and then vote on final passage which will move us another step closer to being able to pass the three pending free trade agreements.

This morning the National Association of Manufacturers sent a Key Vote letter on the GSP/TAA bill to Senators urging them to support the bill.

Manufacturers support the extension of GSP, which provides preferential access to certain imports from selected developing countries. Last year, $23 billion of imports came into our nation duty-free under GSP, nearly three-quarters of which were raw materials, components, parts, or other inputs used to manufacture goods here in the United States. GSP reduces these companies’ input costs, making their products more competitive with their global counterparts. Moreover, it is estimated that nearly 82,000 U.S. jobs are directly or indirectly associated with the importation and use of GSP-eligible imports.