December 29, Colombo: The United States’ Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program expires on December 31, 2017. The United States Congress did not re-authorize GSP before adjourning for the year. The immediate effect of GSP expiration is GSP eligible imports to the United States from Sri Lanka and other GSP beneficiary countries and territories will be subject to non-preferential duties beginning January 1, 2018.
The United States is proud to serve as the top export market for Sri Lanka. According to the Global Trade Atlas, in 2016, the United States imported $2.8 billion of Sri Lankan goods.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s web site has a page dedicated to GSP program information with detailed information on importation procedures during a program lapse.
| Sri Lanka Export Statistics | ||
| Commodity: _Total, All Commodity Chapters | ||
| Annual Series: 2015 – 2016 | ||
| Partner Country | United States Dollars | |
| 2015 | 2016 | |
| World | 10,224,554,632.00 | 10,210,649,427.00 |
| United States | 2,802,407,255.00 | 2,806,185,276.00 |
| United Kingdom | 1,030,719,243.00 | 1,043,757,803.00 |
| India | 644,664,266.00 | 550,531,597.00 |
| Germany | 474,684,369.00 | 505,490,626.00 |
| Italy | 433,896,689.00 | 427,841,626.00 |
| Belgium | 282,389,955.00 | 337,671,197.00 |
| United Arab Emirates | 274,257,515.00 | 274,964,963.00 |
| Netherlands | 219,972,788.00 | 207,638,703.00 |
| Japan | 214,286,053.00 | 200,017,164.00 |
| China | 295,713,655.00 | 198,842,412.00 |
| Russia | 193,587,842.00 | 181,881,197.00 |
Source: Global Trade Atlas
