US Plans To Restore Trade Privileges To Ukraine Under National Preference System- Reports

US Plans to Restore Trade Privileges to Ukraine Under National Preference System- Reports

The White House plans to submit a proposal to restore a number of Ukraine's trade privileges in October, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing an informed source

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2019) The White House plans to submit a proposal to restore a number of Ukraine's trade privileges in October, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing an informed source.

In May 2018, 155 items produced by Ukraine were excluded from the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) due to Kiev's insufficient efforts to protect intellectual property. Since then, White House trade representative Robert Lighthizer has twice proposed to the US President that some of the privileges be restored.

The administration now plans to include the restoration of some of the privileges in a package of trade measures slated for release this month, as reported by the Washington Post. The information was based on interviews with 10 current and former administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Lighthizer's office did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the media, Ukraine has not suffered heavy damage as a result of the move, which excluded products such as optic sight, chocolate, mushrooms, deodorants and others from the GSP. Nevertheless, Ukraine has since adopted a law aimed at improving the protection of intellectual property.

The proposal was reportedly submitted for the first time in August but was withdrawn under the pressure of then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, the media claimed. After the adviser's resignation, Lighthizer submitted a second round of paperwork in early October. However, the idea was dropped again amid the scandal over the July phone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump in which the latter was accused of having abused his powers to persuade Zelensky to investigate the Ukraine dealings with the family of his 2020 campaign rival, Joe Biden.

Under the GSP, established by the Trade Act of 1974 , about 120 countries are entitled to import over 3,500 types of duty-free products in an effort to encourage their economic development.