Proposed Modifications to the U.S.-Chile FTA Rules of Origin Would Likely Have a Negligible Effect on Total U.S. Imports, Total U.S. Exports, and U.S. Production, Says USITC | United States International Trade Commission

September 23, 2016
News Release 16-122
Inv. No(s). U.S.-Chile FTA-103-029
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819

Proposed Modifications to the U.S.-Chile FTA Rules of Origin Would Likely Have a Negligible Effect on Total U.S. Imports, Total U.S. Exports, and U.S. Production, Says USITC

Proposed modifications to the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement rules of origin are likely to have a negligible effect on total U.S. imports, total U.S. exports, and U.S. industry, reports the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) in its publication Probable Economic Effects of Certain Modifications to the U.S.-Chile FTA Rules of Origin.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, produced the report at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

As requested, the report provides advice on the probable economic effect of the proposed modifications to the U.S.-Chile FTA rules of origin on U.S. trade under the Agreement, on total U.S. trade, and on domestic producers of the affected articles. The proposed modifications, detailed in the USTR’s request letter, cover certain woven fabrics of artificial filament yarn classified in heading 5408 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

The proposed modification for the rules of origin for certain woven fabrics of artificial filament yarns would liberalize the current rules of origin by allowing the use of more non-originating rayon filament yarns. However, because U.S. imports from Chile are a small portion of total U.S imports of dyed and yarn-dyed woven fabrics, the likely effect on total U.S. imports of these products is negligible. Similarly, because the United States did not export any of these goods to Chile in 2015 and U.S. exports of these goods to Chile represented less than 1 percent of total U.S. exports in 2014, the likely effect of the proposed modification on total U.S. exports would be negligible.

Probable Economic Effect of Certain Modifications to the U.S.-Chile FTA Rules of Origin (Inv. No. U.S.-Chile FTA-103-029, USITC publication 4632, August 2016) is available at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4632.pdf.

USITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs or trade and are generally conducted at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission's objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its findings and analyses to the requestor. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public, unless they are classified by the requestor for national security reasons.

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