The Philippines has filed a petition before the US Trade Representative to allow the duty-free entry of travel goods such as luggage, bags and wallets to the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences.
Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. said the Philippines filed the petition as early as October 2015.
“We’re working very hard on that. That’s really important to us,” Cristobal said in an interview.
He said the Philippines was hoping that the US government would approve the petition in 2016.
Cristobal said the inclusion of travel goods in the GSP, a preferential tariff system given by the US to its trade partners, would help the Philippine garments sector create thousands of jobs.
“They [garments exporters] said we have competitive advantage on these goods,” said Cristobal.
Cristobal said the US government, for the first time, included travel goods in the list of products that would benefit under GSP.
“For the first time it’s been listed but the collatilla is that only the US President can recommend its inclusion in the list,” he said.
The Trade Department said while the application process might take long, it was optimistic that the US government would accommodate the Philippine request.
Based on the GSP Update Act, the US government will allow the entry of certain travel goods such as luggage, bags, backpacks, wallets and purses with an outer surface of textiles, leather or plastic to apply for duty-free entry into the US.
The Philippines is seen to benefit from the GSP Update Act, as it has a competitive travel goods industry, with several US-based companies having manufacturing operations in several Philippine economic zones.