US lawmakers urge Trump administration not to end India's trade privileges

US lawmakers urge Trump administration not to end India's trade privileges. Twenty-four US members of Congress sent a letter yesterday to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, urging him not to end a vital trade concession for India, a day before the Trump administration is likely to announce a decision on it. 

The lawmakers said that ending the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which allows preferential duty-free imports of up to 5.6 billion dollars from the South



Asian nation, would impose “hundreds of millions of dollars annually in new taxes” on American companies. They urged the administration to continue negotiating a deal with India that would protect American jobs. 

A decision to scrap the trade privilege comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to cut the US trade deficit and repeatedly called out India for high tariffs. India is the world’s largest beneficiary of GSP.