Two bills that affect imports passed on a voice vote out of the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 11. Committee Chairman Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., noted that the Cosmetic Safety Enhancement Act, H.R. 5279, is a bill he introduced in 2019 “to improve and advance the safety of cosmetics and other personal care products. Congress has not updated FDA’s authority to regulate these products in over 80 years. It is long past time that we act so that we can ensure consumers are safe and have confidence in the products they use every day.”
A Congressional-Executive Commission on China released a report on March 11 that spelled out a number of concerns around the use of forced labor in China. “The risk for complicity in forced labor is high for any company importing goods directly from [Xinjiang] or those partnering with a Chinese company operating in the region,” it said. The report recommended that the administration consider “issuing a comprehensive import ban on all goods produced, wholly or in part, in [Xinjiang] until a determination can be made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that [the province's] authorities and producers have ended the systematic use of forced labor“ of Muslim ethnic minorities. The CECC had a hearing on the issue last year (see 1910170039). The National Council of Textile Organizations said March 11 that it agrees with the CECC recommendations.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaking to reporters on a conference call March 10, addressed his participation in a friend of the court brief by saying that he hasn't turned away from the idea of legislating in favor of lawsuits. Grassley, along with the top Democrat on his committee and other senators, entered a friend of the court brief designed to force the administration to publish its report on why imported autos and auto parts are a threat to national security (see 2003090034). He said both the law that contains Section 232 and the law that allowed for the Section 301 tariffs on China need to be fixed to give Congress more say on tariff policy. “I think we can do more in the legislative approach than you can in the courts, but we’re looking at both,” he said. “You take every opportunity you can to make sure the Constitution is followed.”
The Section 232 tariffs taxing steel have not been enough to protect AK Steel, according to Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who say that restrictive action must be taken against downstream products made of grain-oriented electrical steel imported from Canada and Mexico. They wrote to President Donald Trump on March 6, saying that Canada and Mexico do “very limited processing” on electrical steel that they import, which then enters the U.S. as stacked and stacked cores or laminations. “We implore the U.S. Trade Representative and Department of Commerce to address this matter immediately before our communities lose thousands of jobs and our country sees the door of the last American maker of electrical steel shuttered.” Balderson's district includes an AK Steel facility in Zanesville, Ohio, with 100 jobs, and Kelly's district has an AK Steel mill in Butler, Pennsylvania, with 1,500 jobs.
An update to the Congressional Research Service's report on rules of origin notes that some in the trade community believe that more restrictive rules of origin, such as those that will be part of the NAFTA rewrite for autos, raise compliance costs for traders and may lead companies to avoid using the free trade agreement because the rules are so onerous. Because of those critiques, Congress may want to consider that in future FTAs, the report said.
A bill that calls on the administration to begin negotiations on a U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement passed the House of Representatives unanimously March 4. While the bill -- the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act -- already passed the Senate, the Senate needs to vote again to send it to the president's desk because the bill language was not identical between the two chambers. “It is the sense of Congress that the United States should engage in bilateral trade negotiations with Taiwan, with the goal of entering into a free trade agreement that is of mutual economic benefit and that protects United States workers and benefits United States exporters,” the bill says.
Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican who has homed in on Commerce Department oversight on Section 232 exclusions, wrote to the agency March 3 questioning the legality of expanding the enforcement action to steel and aluminum derivative articles. “A sudden announcement on a Friday evening is not befitting such a dramatic paradigm shift from tariffs only on raw materials to now include downstream products as well,” she wrote.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters March 3 that he still wants to advance legislation that would reform Section 232 -- and he suggested that a greater congressional role might be warranted for Section 301, as well. “I want to move 232 and a number of members of my Finance Committee have talked to me about doing it,” he said, immediately adding that the bill is not an attack on President Donald Trump. He said that while the president's use of tariffs has shown Congress the shortcomings of the laws that allowed national security tariffs on steel and massive tariffs on China, his interest is in reasserting some congressional prerogatives on trade.
A bill called Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-Commerce (SHOP SAFE) was introduced March 2 by the chairman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. A press release from Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala., the two Republicans on the bill, said the measure would require online platforms to vet sellers, remove counterfeit listings, and remove sellers who repeatedly sell counterfeits. It would establish trademark liability for companies that sell counterfeits that put at risk consumer health or safety. And it would expose online marketplaces to “contributory liability for their actions” if they don't prevent continued sale of counterfeits by third-party sellers. The American Apparel and Footwear Association lauded the bill. CEO Steve Lamar said, “While many online marketplaces are directing increased resources towards this issue, much more needs to be done to prevent counterfeit products from unknowingly entering the homes of American families.”
A group of 15 senators, mostly from states with significant cattle ranching sectors, wrote to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Feb. 28 questioning the Department of Agriculture's decision to lift the ban on Brazilian raw beef imports (see 2002240023). The letter noted that in 2017, the USDA refused to import about 2 million pounds of Brazilian beef and then suspended all raw beef imports from the country “due to public health concerns, poor sanitary conditions, and animal health issues. Given that the United States halted Brazilian raw beef imports less than one year after Brazil was granted access in 2016, we have serious concerns about Brazil’s ability to maintain adequate food safety standards over the long run.”