The House passed on Jan. 29 the Agricultural Act of 2014 (here) conference report, this year’s iteration of the Farm Bill, with a 251-166 roll call. The legislation retains a number of provisions that industry opponents claim will encourage World Trade Organization (WTO) sanctioned retaliation in the future, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations on meat and poultry imports and the Catfish Inspection Program.
The Export-Import Bank has failed to meet designated targets for small and medium-sized business transactions since 2012 reauthorization, building off a history of inability to meet its 20 percent small business authorization mandate, said Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, at a Jan. 28 committee hearing. Led by President Fred Hochberg, the bank still plays a critical role in countering disproportionate, foreign government subsidies on exports, said Crapo.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee intends to hold a mark up on Feb. 4 to vote on the nomination of Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., as ambassador to China, said Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J. during the Jan. 28 nomination hearing (see 14012817). Baucus must first, however, answer additional for-the-record questions by Jan. 29, said Menendez.
The 113th Congress may target Generalized System of Preferences renewal, Andean Trade Preference Act reauthorization and Trade Adjustment Assistance legislation, along with Trade Promotion Authority and trade pact implementation legislation in coming months, said a Jan. 23 Congressional Research Service (CRS) in a report titled “International Trade and Finance: Key Policy Issues for the 113th Congress, Second Session." The current Congress may also increasingly bring attention to CBP failures to fully collect antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) measures, said the report.
New lobbyist registrations on trade-related issues include:
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The emerging trade issues the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership will inevitably address should encourage all lawmakers to embrace Trade Promotion Authority legislation, said a Los Angeles Times editorial published on Jan. 26. The administration is floating positive proposals in both negotiations, but there continues to be room for improvement, said the editorial. “If Congress wants these treaties to be more to its liking, lawmakers need to stop dithering and give the president a new set of marching orders on trade,” said the editorial.
The U.S. livestock and poultry industries will actively oppose passage of a final Farm Bill conference report, should it contain country of origin labeling (COOL) regime that fails to meet World Trade Organization compliance standards, said six meat and poultry organizations in a Jan. 27 letter to the four Farm Bill conferees. The inclusion will invite Mexican and Canadian tariff hikes that will damage U.S. industry, said the organizations.
The Dairy COOL Act of 2014, HR-3935 (here), would amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to institute country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements for dairy products. The amendment would cover dairy products such as fluid milk, cheese (including cottage cheese and cream cheese), yogurt, ice cream, butter and any other dairy product. The legislation would require U.S. dairy imports to include information on each country the product or product components originated or were sourced from. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., introduced the legislation on Jan. 27.
The Chinese government needs to fully embrace a global rules-based economic and trade environment, while stamping out state violations of intellectual property rights protections, said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., during the Jan. 28 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination for ambassador to Beijing. Baucus commended the recent Chinese decision to negotiate a bilateral treaty with the U.S. that, according to Baucus, will level the playing field for U.S. companies by scaling back Chinese preferences for its domestic industry, which violate the principle of national treatment.