“Turkeys trade minister slammed the decision, saying it would only harm American small- and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturers by raising costs.”Ruhsar Pekcan tweeted on Tuesday that Turkey intends to press ahead with efforts to increase trade with the US to $75 billion “without losing any momentum.”.Turkey imported $20.9 billion in goods under the tax-free scheme in the first 11 months of 2018. It exported $1.74 billion to the US, making Turkey the fifth largest supplier to US among the developing countries.”India said it would accept the decision without further negotiations.”The decision reflects a failure for the two sides to come to agreement on various trade issues, but is not one India will try to fight, said Monideepa M. Mukherjee, a spokeswoman for Indias commerce ministry.”In the announcement, Lighthizer said India had not agreed to open up its markets more to US companies.”Mukherjee said India disagrees over the market access issue, but has outgrown the preferential trade status, called Generalized System of Preferences. The savings on tariffs amounted to only $190 million a year, the ministry said.”“The GSP benefits will go, the US will not relent on this,” said Mukherjee. “Its meant for least-developed countries, and India has graduated out of that.” India is one of the fastest growing emerging economies.”The Generalized System of Preferences program gives developing countries duty-free treatment for exports of thousands of products. It is meant to help such countries grow their economies by encouraging trade.
Date:3/18/2019
Source:Egypt Independent