Senate Floats Separate Currency Manipulation Measure
Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, led a bipartisan group of ten senators in introducing a bill on Feb. 10 to combat the impacts of foreign currency manipulation on U.S. industry. The Currency Undervaluation Investigation Act surfaced the same day House members introduced similar currency legislation (see 1502110021),
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The Senate bill would force the Commerce Department to “treat currency manipulation as an illegal subsidy and impose applicable duties,” said a statement released by Sessions’ office (here). The House legislation would also authorize Commerce to apply duties in response to foreign currency manipulation.
According to a copy of the text released to International Trade Today, the legislation would allow Commerce to determine the benefit of currency manipulation by comparing the average real exchange rate, based off two assessment mechanisms, to “the official daily exchange rate identified by” the U.S. government. The legislation identifies a “macroeconomic-balance approach” and an “equilibrium-real-exchange-rate approach” as those two rubrics.
Should the legislation become law, Canada and Mexico, as well as all other countries, will be subject to the same countervailing duty rules, the text points out. The bill makes no specific mention of pending free trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the Senate bill.