The House next week will vote on legislation that would repeal language in the Dodd-Frank Act requiring companies to report conflict minerals content in their products to the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a House Financial Services Committee announcement (here). Specifically, H.R. 10, the Financial CHOICE Act (here), would strike Section 1502 of Dodd-Frank, which contains the conflict minerals provisions.
A bipartisan group of 60 House lawmakers in a May 30 letter urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to consider the absence of tariffs on "energy products," access to North American energy markets, and general policies to maintain and upgrade the free flow of raw and refined products during the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation. “NAFTA has set the stage for North America to be truly energy independent,” the lawmakers wrote. Since the agreement entered into force, the U.S. has become the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas, Mexico opened its energy industry to foreign investment for the first time in more than 75 years, and Canada has become a top-five producer of energy due to investment in oil sands, liquefied natural gas, and energy infrastructure projects, they wrote. “Given the strategic and economic relationship with Canada and Mexico, the United States is better off securing its energy supplies on the continent than from less reliable sources,” the letter says.
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., introduced a bill on May 25 that would qualify footwear classified in over 20 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings in Chapter 64 for Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) treatment for the first time in the program’s more than 40-year history. The legislation, H.R. 2735, would also require the executive branch to conduct six annual studies of the state of the U.S. footwear industry, focusing on yearly changes to categories of domestic footwear. The bill would require the International Trade Commission to inform that report by examining current production of "like or directly competitive articles" and to identify any articles for which domestic production is likely to occur within the next year at a commercial level.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue met on May 24 with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway, R-Texas, ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and other members of the panel to discuss U.S. agricultural trade policy, according to a committee press release (here). Lighthizer in a statement said he is committed to fighting unfair trade practices and expanding export opportunities. The committee is eager to work with Trump administration officials on building upon “hard-fought gains” at a time when the U.S. has an agricultural trade surplus, Conaway said in a statement. “It was also encouraging to hear [Ambassador] Lighthizer express the importance of holding our trading partners accountable, and I look forward to working with him and Sec. Perdue to secure even better deals for America’s farmers, ranchers and foresters,” he said. Peterson said he takes Lighthizer and Perdue “at their word” that U.S. trade deals will grow agricultural exports and “not take them backward.”
UPS Global Customs Policy and Public Affairs Vice President Norm Schenk on May 25 urged senators to pass the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, which he said could help the parcel carrier build more data elements into its automated systems to halt illicit drug shipments. Although the bill, which was introduced in both houses of Congress in February (see 1702160060), would require only the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide advance electronic data to CBP, express carriers could use some of the processes outlined in the bill to help them target illicit shipments of drugs like fentanyl, Schenk said during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The Senate Banking Committee on May 23 approved President Donald Trump’s nomination of Mira Ricardel as director of the Bureau of Industry and Security, a committee spokeswoman said in an email. If confirmed, Ricardel would be tasked with taking a leading role in the Trump administration’s review of whether export control reform would move forward to transfer items from U.S. Munitions List categories I (firearms, close assault weapons, and combat shotguns), II (guns and armament) and III (ammunition/ordnance), to the Commerce Control List (see 1705160040). The office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t comment on when the full body might hold a confirmation vote for Ricardel.
Customs enforcement, prevention of trade secrets theft overseas, and foreign forced technology transfers or localization requirements will be among the issues that Vishal Amin, President Donald Trump’s nominee for White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator, will focus on if sworn in, he said during his confirmation hearing May 24 before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A “targeted, practical, and comprehensive approach” to U.S. IP enforcement can start with “engagement with our trading partners; the effective use of all of our authorities, including our trade tools; expanded law enforcement cooperation; and, engagement and partnership with the private sector,” he said in written testimony (here).
The Senate on May 22 confirmed Terry Branstad to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared his nomination on May 6 (see 1705090030).