Crapo: Resistance to GSP From a Lot of Angles
Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who will lead the Senate Finance Committee next year, said the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program is "a high priority for me," and he tried to get the trade preference program attached to the spending bill this week.
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"We fought in this last round of negotiations to get that done, and there's still resistance," he said at the Capitol Dec. 18. When asked what the resistance is based on, he said, "It's interesting. There's a lot of different angles here, but, one is, an effort to attach Trade Adjustment Assistance to it, without having any actual trade negotiations accompanying it."
The TAA program provides extended unemployment and educational benefits to people who lost their jobs due to trade, and it expired in July 2022 (see 2211150025). Democrats have insisted for years that they won't support bringing GSP back unless Republicans agree to bringing TAA back. But Republicans, as Crapo suggested, believe TAA should be paired with Trade Promotion Authority, which gives the executive branch direction on Congress' priorities for free trade negotiations.
"I think, perhaps, if we can get into trade negotiations, which I think the next president is going to do, then we may have an opportunity" to renew GSP. he said.