The United States and Jordan signed an Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (“ART”) on July 21, with the agreement entering into force sixty days after the completion of each country’s “respective applicable internal procedures.” 

The full text of the ART can be found here; a Fact Sheet is here. Highlights of the ART include:

Tariff Treatment

Jordan: Jordan will continue to apply applicable U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) duty rates on U.S.-origin goods.

United States: As outlined in Annex I, the U.S. will apply the applicable U.S.-Jordan FTA duty rates or most-favored-nation (“MFN”) duty rates on the Jordanian-origin goods specified in Schedules 1A and 1B of this ART, including certain textile and apparel goods.   This will be applied “consistently” with any duties imposed via other tariff authorities.

Additionally, the U.S. explicitly “intends to take into account” Jordanian efforts to meet ART commitments when determining future Section 301 Forced Labor tariff action – potentially opening the door to a reduced or zero Section 301 Forced Labor duty for Jordan.

The U.S. also commits to provide “preferential tariff treatment” for Jordanian-origin goods in other future tariff actions, except for antidumping and countervailing duties as well as tariffs imposed via Section 232 or Section 201.

Forced Labor

Within five years of this agreement, Jordan is required to “prohibit the importation of goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced or compulsory labor.”

Enforcement and Implementation

The U.S. and Jordan each remain empowered to impose “additional tariffs to remedy unfair trade practices, to address import surges, to protect its economic or national security,” or any other objective consistent with either country’s own laws.

SSA is following these developments closely and will provide additional information as it arises. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.