US to cut off India and Turkey from preferential trade status

President Donald Trump's decided on Monday the administration would scrap the preferential trade status granted to India and Turkey claiming they no longer apply for Washington’s Generalized System of Preferences.

The US trade representative said on Monday that Turkey and India no longer qualified as “beneficiary developing countries” which allowed them to have duty-free access to the US market for some of their exports.

The statement on Monday from Washington also claimed that India failed to provide assurances that it would allow required market access after implementing a wide array of trade barriers.The current system allows India$5.5bn worth of exports to enter the US duty free.

The statement also said that Turkey is now sufficiently economically developed to qualify for the program that it entered back in the 1970s. Currently Turkey is allowed $1.7bn worth of imports into the US duty free said the latest Congressional Research Service report in January.

The changes for both countries will take effect after 60 days following the notification to Congress.

The move comes as the US is on the brink of signing a deal that would put an end to the trade war with China which also started after Trump vowed to take an aim at what he considers imbalanced trade relationships with other states.