Reps. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, jointly reintroduced the Trade Protection Not Troll Protection Act March 22. The bill (here), which the House didn't consider when it was introduced during the previous Congress, would require patent assertion entities to have a “vested interest” in a patent before the entity could seek an International Trade Commission patent infringement investigation. The bill would also give the ITC more leeway to consider at any point in Section 337 proceedings whether the investigation is in the public interest, rather than only when making a final determination in a case. The bill would codify the ITC's 2013 pilot program that allows a 100-day expedited fact-finding and hearing process in patent investigations. “American businesses are being crippled by the bureaucracy it takes to fight these claims,” Cardenas said in a news release (here). Patent litigation abuse “is a drag on our economy and it stifles innovation,” Farenthold said in the release. “Our legislation curbs the problem by targeting abusive patent trolls and discouraging frivolous patent lawsuits.” The Consumer Technology Association lauded Cardenas and Farenthold for reintroducing the bill, which was supported by Cisco, Dell and Google. The bill will allow the ITC to “continue to be a robust resource for U.S. companies, but it will be a less attractive venue for frivolous patent extortion,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro in a statement.

Ohio Sens. Rob Portman, R, and Sherrod Brown, D, wrote a letter (here) to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker expressing concern that her department is not applying “adverse facts available” comprehensively enough in trade cases involving uncooperative governments and businesses. The letter, which contains 20 other signatures from Democratic and Republican senators, said “time is of the essence” in implementing new authorities to mitigate the “devastating” impacts that illegal dumping has had on domestic production and employment. The “adverse facts available” principle allows the Commerce Department flexibility in assessing AD/CVD rates, and gives it ultimate discretion to apply the highest available countervailing subsidy rates or dumping margins in proceedings where a foreign entity provides insufficient information or fails to cooperate.

Congress will not approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership by the end of the Obama Presidency, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, and other attendees of a March 18 seminar hosted by the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels Forum. Sessions said U.S. job and wage prospects under TPP are “worrying” Americans, making it more difficult to pass the agreement, and added that Brunei and Vietnam shouldn’t get the same vote proportion as the U.S. under the pact.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is crafting bipartisan legislation to extend the Iran Sanctions Act in response to Tehran's launch of several ballistic missiles, according to a committee press release (here). “Recent events in Iran underscore the need for a statutory framework to respond to Iran’s ballistic missile tests,” Ranking Member Ben Cardin, D-Md., said in a statement. “Responding to Iran’s provocations is consistent with our JCPOA obligations.” The sanctions would target financial institutions and will continue to apply to people who provide Iran with “specified weapons,” dual-use goods, and related technologies. “Iran remains a bipartisan concern and we are committed to taking action to ensure that Iran does not become a threshold nuclear weapons state,” said Cardin and committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn. Cardin also highlighted S. 2119, the Iran Policy Oversight Act, he introduced on Oct. 1, which would help to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-weapon state, to strengthen U.S. “resolve” against Tehran’s ballistic missile program, and “other nefarious actions,” he said.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

The Senate on March 16 voted 49-48 to strike down a motion for a cloture vote on Sen. Pat Roberts’, R-Kan., Biotechnology Labeling Solutions Bill, which would have established a national voluntary bioengineered food labeling standard and supersede applicable state laws, according to a summary of the bill (here). The legislation itself (here) would also direct the Agriculture Department to provide the public with science-based education, outreach, and promotion, alongside other federal agencies, regarding bioengineered food.

Less restrictive U.S. policies and further normalization of trade relations with Cuba would likely lead to a boost to U.S. agricultural trade, said a trade expert, a Texas rice farmer, as well as most GOP members at a House hearing on March 15. During a hearing of the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Trade (here), supporters of loosening existing restrictions on trade with Cuba said a more relaxed bilateral policy would help boost U.S. agricultural exports to the country, which tumbled from a peak of $709 million in 2008 to $149 million last year. Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council’s Latin America Economic Growth Initiative, along with Texas rice farmer and U.S. Rice Producers Association board member Ray Stoesser, encouraged subcommittee members to advance legislation that is hoped to stimulate the waning competition of U.S. agricultural exports in the Cuban marketplace. According to Stoesser’s submitted testimony (here), U.S. exports occupied 10 percent of all Cuban rice market share in 2015, and were topped by the market shares of rice imported from the EU, Brazil, and Argentina.

U.S. shippers are already in compliance with amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention which will require shippers to provide the verified gross mass (VGM) of containers prior to being loaded onto carrier ships, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft said during a March 15 budget hearing of the House Transportation Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee (here). “What’s needed is a final weight,” Zukunft said. “By and large, most [cargo] manifests already have that weight built in.” Direct stakeholders, including shippers, carriers, marine terminal operators, the Federal Maritime Commission, and the Coast Guard implementing body, have over the past month discussed how to implement the VGM requirement set to take effect July 1. Rep. Dave Rouzer, R-N.C., first raised the issue during the hearing and asked Zukunft to address shipper concerns and “conflicting statements” made by the Coast Guard regarding VGM implementation.

The General Services Administration removed 11 companies from the GSA Advantage website, after Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in January (see 1601250033) called attention to the listing of several foreign products as “Made-in-America,” Schumer said in a statement (here). GSA Advantage is an online government purchasing service that allows federal agencies and many state and local governments to buy products from different suppliers. Schumer pledged to remain engaged with GSA to “weed out” any currently unknown or future false labelers. GSA didn’t comment.

Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., is leading an effort alongside 121 of his House colleagues to urge the House Appropriations Committee to maintain the current funding level of $1.3 billion for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) in its fiscal 2017 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. In a letter (here) to the leaders on the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee and House Appropriations Committee, the lawmakers say that the White House’s budget request estimates fiscal 2016 HMTF revenue at about $1.7 billion, which is $225 million less than anticipated.