Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

The World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement expansion, which took effect July 1, will make U.S.-made goods more attractive to international consumers by lowering tariffs and will translate to U.S. consumer cost savings on items like printer ink cartridges, LCD TVs, touch screens and video games, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said in a statement (here). “This agreement is more proof that trade agreements, done right, can strengthen our economy and improve the lives of ordinary Americans,” he said in the statement.

The Senate on June 29 confirmed the nominations of Michael Khouri, Rebecca Dye and Daniel Maffei to serve on the Federal Maritime Commission. Khouri will serve until June 30, 2021, Dye until June 30, 2020; both were renominated. The term for Maffei, who is replacing Commissioner Richard Lidinsky, will end June 30, 2017, the Federal Maritime Commission said (here).

A bill introduced by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, would require the president to start negotiating a trade agreement with the United Kingdom within 30 days of enactment, in an effort to conclude the deal within a year, and would require the U.S. to keep operating under the status quo of current commercial agreements with the UK, despite Brexit, unless the EU determines otherwise. "The United Kingdom has stood with us at the front lines of battle, and it should therefore be at the front of the line for a free trade agreement that benefits both our nations," Cotton said in a statement (here). "At this time of transition for our ancestral ally, it is in our deepest interest to reaffirm the Special Relationship.”

The Senate could next week hold a vote on whether to approve compromise legislation introduced by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on biotech labeling, a Senate Agriculture Committee spokeswoman said. The Senate in a 68-29 procedural vote on June 29 advanced the bill, which was concluded last week after three months of negotiations between committee Republicans and Democrats (see 1606230068). “I look forward to the Senate acting next week,” Roberts said in a statement (here). Under the law, which would supersede state labeling regulations, companies could disclose the presence of GMO ingredients in food via printed text, a symbol or digital link.

The Senate Commerce Committee on June 29 cleared the nomination of Michael Khouri -- who President Barack Obama nominated to serve another five-year term at the Federal Maritime Commission -- to the Senate floor for consideration, the committee said (here). Khouri’s term would expire June 30, 2021. He has served as an FMC commissioner since 2009, and was renominated earlier this month (see 1606090074).

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill June 23 that would boost U.S. aid for expanding trade in developing countries, including a five-year interagency pilot program to help those nations implement trade facilitation reforms and the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), the committee said (here). The bill would also create a coordination committee -- made up of State Department, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and U.S. Agency for International Development representatives -- for the purpose of developing and sending to Congress a biennial joint strategic plan that, among other things, will identify obstacles to trade assistance, set performance measures and targets, and give estimates for resources needed to achieve these goals. “Through better coordination and input from the private sector, this legislation will allow us to deliver trade capacity assistance in a far more focused and strategic manner that will expand markets for American businesses by helping the developing world eliminate barriers to trade and investment,” committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a statement. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that TFA could substantially lower trade costs for all countries, the committee underscored.

The U.S. should immediately start negotiating a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, after citizens of that country voted June 23 to exit the EU, Texas Republicans Sen. Ted Cruz and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in statements. “We should treat the ‘Brexit’ as an opportunity to forge a closer partnership with our historic friend and ally, including immediately starting negotiations for a targeted US-UK free trade agreement,” Cruz said (here). Brady said (here) the U.S. and UK should discuss a "modern" agreement that expands trade between the U.S. and its seventh-largest trading partner, and that he remains "committed to a strong and ambitious TTIP agreement."

The Senate Agriculture Committee settled on bipartisan compromise legislation (here) for biotech food labeling that would establish a national disclosure standard for genetically modified (GMO) food ingredients, apparently a more rigorous standard than the voluntary labeling guideline pitched in prior legislation that failed in March (see 1603170023). The legislation would put much of the onus for developing GMO qualification standards on the Department of Agriculture secretary, but would also safeguard certain foods from adopting “bioengineered” designations. For example, an animal product would not be eligible for GMO status only because the animal ate feed derived from a bioengineered substance. The disclosure standard would apply to foods whose leading ingredient would itself be subject to existing labeling requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and to foods whose main ingredient is broth, stock or water, but whose second-most predominant ingredient would be separately subject to that law’s requirements.