The T&T Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) yesterday called on Government to immediately begin talks with the US on a free trade agreement to secure duty free access to the US for locally manufactured goods.

The call followed news that US President George W Bush has ordered the termination of T&T’s access to a preferential trade programme known as the General System of Preferences (GSP) effective January 1, 2010.

Bush issued the order last Monday on the grounds that T&T had become a “high income” country and was no longer eligible to make use of the GSP.

The TTMA downplayed the significance of the move.

In a statement yesterday the body said, “At present, T&T does not utilise the GSP scheme to any great extent, less than one per cent of this country’s exports enter the US under GSP.” The TTMA added that “the measure does not take effect until January 1, 2010, and therefore the move will not affect members at this time.”

The TTMA said the majority of this country’s dutiable exports to the US enters that country under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, and a waiver for this programme would expire in September 2010.

The manufacturers’ body said that unless T&T locks in the preferences the country’s manufacturers enjoy under this programme or signs a free trade agreement with the US, the loss of preferential access would place T&T exporters in a “dire position.”

The TTMA pointed out that the US is this country’s top export market.

The GSP was designed to promote economic growth in the developing world and provides preferential duty-free entry for more than 4,650 products from 131 designated beneficiary countries and territories. Bush on June 30 said he was terminating T&T’s designation as a beneficiary developing country under the GSP, because had become a “high income” country according to World Bank statistics.

The TTMA said, “Without GSP opportunities, T&T goods entering the US would be made to trade under the most favoured nation basis, which means such goods would face the same duty other more developed and developing countries adhere to.

“This would render T&T’s goods uncompetitive, since this country would not be able to compete with those countries which benefit from economies of scope and scale as well as fair and unfair trading practices,” the statement read.

The TTMA said that since the US seemed determined to treat T&T as a high income country, an extension of the privileges enjoyed under the CB may not be possible.

“However, a free trade agreement is a distinct possibility that must be immediately looked at,” the TTMA urged.

See Page 20