How a Portuguese textiles company utilised FTAs

Petratex source their fabrics and materials from all over the world so due to rules of origin, import duties to the USA are prohibitive. The ITC explained how to restructure their supply chain to minimise these duties.

The United States, like many countries, offers reduced rates of import duty to countries with whom they have a Free Trade Agreement - the reduced rates of import duty only apply to specific HS codes. It was therefore necessary to research which countries the US has trade agreements with and which countries benefit from reduced duty rates e.g. the General System of Preferences. It was also essential to check that the HS codes in question were included in the FTA / GSP terms.

Because GSP reduced duty rates do not apply for the Petratex HS codes, I then looked at Free Trade Agreements. This research determined that, of the live FTAs, the United States Morocco Free Trade Agreement and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement could both be utilised.