The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) should continue engagement to prevent port disruptions in the future, even if the two organizations do not renew their labor contract by its July 1, 2019, expiration date, nine House lawmakers said in an April 15 letter to the groups (here). “It is reassuring to know that your organizations appreciate the staggering impact that the 2014-2015 West Coast port disruptions had on shippers, workers, and port users, as well as the regional and national economy, and that you are committed to preventing a repeat of that devastating incident well in advance of the current contract expiration date on July 1, 2019,” said the letter. The lawmakers wrote that recent disruptions hurt entire supply chains and ports that rely on a steady stream of traffic, and said they look forward to working with the ILWU and PMA to boost freight mobility and thwart future disruptions. The letter was signed by Washington Republican Reps. Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse, California Republican Reps. Doug LaMalfa and Devin Nunes, along with Reps. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, and Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Del. Amata Radewagen, R-A.S.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., on April 14 announced introduction of the China Market Economy Status Congressional Review Act (here), which would give Congress the authority to approve Chinese market economy designations made by the Commerce Department in the context of antidumping cases, according to a press release (here). “Today, across our economy, American businesses are in crisis under the weight of billions of government-subsidized Chinese exports,” DeLauro said in a statement. “Meanwhile, American companies attempting to do business with China have faced severely unfair treatment by the Chinese government. Our trade deficit with China has now increased to a record $366 billion. The China Market Economy Status Congressional Review Act is a critical step in ensuring that we do not sell short our economy with a trading partner that does not play by the rules.” The act would give Congress 45 days to approve or disapprove any China market economy status determination by Commerce. Some, including China, say the U.S. is required to treat China as a market economy in antidumping cases beginning in December 2016 (see 1603020042).

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., urged the International Trade Commission on April 14 to use its authority to take actions stakeholders recommended to address patent assertion entities' abuse of the ITC's process for evaluating Section 337 exclusion orders. PAEs take patent infringement cases that should be litigated in U.S. district courts and bring them to the ITC in a bid to force entities to pay licensing fees, Goodlatte said during a House IP Subcommittee hearing. Stakeholders recommended the ITC return to a previous evaluation standard that “does not allow legal expenses, airplane flights, and the like to satisfy the domestic industry requirement,” Goodlatte said. The ITC should apply the public interest test and the economic interest test at the beginning of a Section 337 review when determining claims consideration and the issuance of exclusion orders, Goodlatte said. The ITC should also use its public interest and economic interest analyses to articulate agency standards to “clarify which patent disputes should be adjudicated by the ITC and those which are more properly addressed by U.S. district courts,” Goodlatte said. House IP ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., questioned whether Congress needs to act to curb PAE abuses of the ITC process because the agency is already beginning to address the issue.

Congress can't let the U.S. become dependent on foreign countries for steel, Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Tim Murphy, R-Pa., said in written testimony for the caucus’ annual “State of Steel” hearing April 14 (here). To help make sure the World Trade Organization does not designate China as a market economy as long as the country’s market remains subsidized and “non-market,” the caucus on April 14 sent letters to the Obama Administration and the EU, Murphy said.

The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on CBP oversight featuring the agency’s commissioner, Gil Kerlikowske, at 2 p.m. on April 21, Finance said (here). The hearing will focus on CBP efforts to enhance trade facilitation and enforce U.S. trade laws, including the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, the committee said. “Now that bipartisan customs legislation has been signed into law, job creators, manufacturers and workers have additional tools to successfully compete in a 21st century economy,” Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement. “These new tools will help facilitate trade, improve enforcement of our trade laws and enhance our nation’s competitiveness. We need to do all we can to make sure these changes are effectively implemented. This hearing will give members the first public opportunity to examine how the Customs and Border Protection Agency intends to implement these changes.”

The Senate passed on April 13 a bill to impose emergency restrictions on the importation of archeological and ethnological materials from Syria. The bill, H.R. 1493, titled the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act (here), was passed by the House in June 2015, but Senate amendments stripped away most provisions of the House bill, including those creating a U.S. Coordinator for International Cultural Property Protection.

The House of Representatives on April 13 passed a bill that would provide for the creation of a new border security joint task force, comprising representatives of CBP, ICE and the Coast Guard, require that CBP base its border staffing levels on risk, and mandate that the Department of Homeland Security submit a strategic plan for coordination of maritime security operations at the agency. The Border and Maritime Coordination Improvement Act, H.R. 3586 (here), would also formally authorize CBP’s donation acceptance program, in line with calls from legislators and private industry that the program be made permanent (see 1511050013). Provisions of the bill also require that CBP establish an Air Cargo Advance Screening Program, which is currently in pilot form, within one year from enactment, submit an annual report on CBP staffing levels, and set new requirements for mutual recognition agreements of trusted trader programs. If enacted, the bill would address “overlap and redundancies that plague our border security efforts, driving up costs and limiting effectiveness,” said Rep. Candace Miller, R-Mich, in a statement following the bill’s passage (here). Miller introduced the bill, which now goes to the Senate, in September.

Senate Finance Committee leaders introduced companion miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) process reform legislation (here), said the committee on April 13 (here). The Senate bill tracks closely with legislation introduced the same day in the House (see 1604130047) and tasks the International Trade Commission with initially reviewing petitions for eligibility and with proposing products to receive tariff benefits, before sending its product recommendations to Congress for an approval/disapproval vote.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., on April 8 pledged to make sure the U.S. government enforces new trade enforcement laws after U.S. Steel has said it will lay off 25 percent of its salaried employees. “Our steel industry is under constant attack from illegal dumping and currency manipulation, and we cannot sit by and watch as American workers continue to get cheated out of their jobs,” he said in a statement (here). “My office stands ready to assist workers and families impacted by this decision, and I will continue fighting to make sure our government fully enforces the new laws passed by Congress.” Recently enacted laws are aimed at streamlining trade enforcement, such as the June-signed Leveling the Playing Field Act, which is aimed at simplifying and expediting antidumping/countervailing duty assessments. The job cuts will include workers at U.S. Steel plants in Gary and Portage, Ind. U.S. Steel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.