U.S. Multinationals and Preferential Market Access

We combine firm-level panel data on U.S. foreign affiliate activity with detailed measures of U.S. trade policy to study the relationship between offshoring and preferential market access. Consistent with theory, we find that trade preferences and offshoring activity are positively and significantly correlated. Using instrumental variables, we estimate that a 10% increase in U.S. foreign affiliate exports to the United States is associated with a 4 percentage point increase in the rate of preferential duty-free access. Restricting attention to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) among developing countries, this estimate more than triples, relative to the baseline, full sample results.