ASP: The little giant

Scan the broad, $215 billion horizon of world trade and the pitifully small amount of it that is touched by American Selling Price is barely detectable. Yet, American Selling Price—ASP—is one of the most controversial trade issues of this decade. ASP has been controversial throughout its entire existence. It was born in controversy 47 years ago. Never has ASP been attacked with such force nor defended with as much tenacity, however, as during the past five years. It was apparent, even before the sessions began, that ASP would become a major stumbling block of the Kennedy round, the most ambitious, multinational trade conference ever attempted. Indeed, ASP came close to scuttling the entire conference. Only an llth-hour agreement on ASP saved the entire Kennedy round from becoming a four-year exercise in futility. Now the Kennedy round has burrowed a year and a half deep into history, and the ASP issue remains unresolved. The last major ...