The Senate on Feb. 13 confirmed Steven Mnuchin to be treasury secretary, after a rocky consideration process (see 1701310038 and 1702010021). President Donald Trump did the swearing in shortly after the confirmation, and said Mnuchin will protect U.S. manufacturing jobs from "those who cheat and steal and rob us blind," according to a published account of remarks made at the ceremony (here). "It won’t be that anymore; we won’t have that anymore. Countries and others won’t be able to take advantage of us. It’s a whole new era." Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., spoke in opposition to Mnuchin's confirmation on the Senate floor (here) shortly before the vote, citing questionable foreclosure practices previously carried out by OneWest Bank, formerly headed by Mnuchin. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on the Senate floor praised Mnuchin, according to a committee press release (here).

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, sought to downplay Senate GOP concerns recently voiced regarding the border adjustability elements of House Republicans’ tax reform plan. Speaking to reporters on Feb. 13, Brady said House proponents of the border-adjustable plan are “making progress every day” in discussions with Senate colleagues about the “bold change” proposed by the new plan. In response to a question about whether border adjustability is “still a hard sell” with Senate Republicans, Brady said, “No, I feel really good about where we’re going." Brady said that while industries will fight hard to preserve their “special tax bracket,” more lawmakers are seeing parts of the proposal as helpful to consumers and having the wherewithal to erase tax reasons to move jobs and headquarters overseas. “We’re going to continue to work with the Senate, with House members, with industry, frankly, as we listen to their solutions on how to design it in transition,” he said.

Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue in an opinion piece and a letter to Senate colleagues criticized House Republicans’ border adjustability tax plan as detrimental to consumers, jobs and economic growth. In the letter (here), Perdue asserted that border adjustment’s “clear effect” would be an increase in consumer prices, thereby putting downward pressure on jobs. In both the letter and the opinion piece in The Washington Times (here), he cited a University of Maryland study (here) estimating that some industries could see 20 percent drops in employment. The referenced study also projects employment gains for big industries, including about 4 percent for food and beverage retailers and between 5 percent and 12 percent for the truck transportation industry. Perdue, the former head of Dollar General, argued in his letter that if border adjustability were to strengthen the dollar by up to 20 percent, the U.S. will still “end up with more losers than winners,” as U.S. investors will see foreign asset values tumble.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

The House GOP tax reform legislation with border adjustment provisions could be ready by July and won't include exemptions, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said in a Bloomberg interview (here). “I’m not anticipating any exceptions or carve-outs. I want to be very clear there," Brady said. Brady is working closely with industry on the design and transition provisions, he said. Brady also called out companies that advocate current tax policies he says favor foreign products over U.S.-made ones. “That’s not going to work,” he said. “And if they’re going to ask to keep in place incentives to move jobs overseas, that’s not going to be successful either.” Brady’s committee is working on the final drafts of tax reform legislation along with congressional outsiders looking at the broader picture, he said. "I imagine" the bill could be ready "in the first half of this year," though there's no time table, he said.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bill:

The House Democratic Caucus approved Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., to fill a vacancy left by former Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., on the House Ways and Means Committee, after he left Congress to serve as California’s attorney general in early January, Ways and Means ranking member Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement (here).

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., named senators to the panel’s International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness Subcommittee, the committee announced (here). Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, will chair the subcommittee, whose GOP majority will also include Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, John Thune of South Dakota and Dean Heller of Nevada. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., will serve as the subcommittee's ranking member, and will lead Democratic minority Sens. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Bill Nelson of Florida and Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

The Senate Finance Committee is drafting waiver legislation to smooth the path for the confirmation of U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer’s confirmation, following questions of his legal eligibility for the post because of past foreign government representation, committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said during a brief interview Feb. 6. While at the Skadden Arps law firm, Lighthizer represented the Brazilian Ministry of Industry and Commerce (see 1701250061). The Trade Act of 1974 prevents anyone who represented other governments on trade issues with the U.S. from serving as USTR or deputy USTR.

The Congressional Research Service issued a report (here) on the difference between an import tariff and a border tax, after some media reports used the terms interchangeably to describe late January statements by the Trump administration that it was considering imposing a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico. The report notes that, while the Constitution assigns tariff authority “exclusively in Congress,” the legislative body “over time” has delegated authority to the president to modify tariffs by proclamation under certain circumstances. Congress has not, however, delegated its taxing authority to the president as it has, to some extent, for tariffs, and a border tax would likely be part of a larger domestic tax reform effort, according to the report. “Accordingly, it appears the President could not unilaterally impose a 20% tax on imports from Mexico,” the CRS said. A Republican source recently said Jan. 26 comments by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer about Trump administration considerations of taxing Mexican imports to pay for a U.S. wall on the Mexican border are consistent with the House GOP’s border adjustment proposal (see 1701270040).