Bentonville, Arkansas-headquartered retail major Walmart, is supporting India on a trade measure against the country by the Trump administration. In a submission to the U.S. government, which the Economic Times has seen, the company urged continuation of low or zero duty benefits for $5.6 billion-worth Indian exports to the U.S. under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. The company added that revoking India’s GSP eligibility was “too blunt a tool” and would only end up benefiting others.
“Removing India from GSP, or removing eligibility for a broad range of GSP products from India, would most likely shift that production to non-GSP eligible countries such as China,” Walmart said. Diverting supply chains away from India would be disruptive and produce short-term higher costs as U.S. duties were applied to Indian goods.
“GSP has created market opportunities for Indian women and businesses, often from rural areas, whose products can now reach Walmart’s U.S. stores including seasonal decorations, potpourri, household goods, tools, sporting goods and other GSP-eligible products that Walmart sells in the United States,” Walmart said. Besides sourcing a wide range of consumer products from India through GSP, American buyers gain because the program removes “millions of dollars of duty costs that act as a tax on those products,” it added.
