House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Democrats “are within range” of agreeing on a new NAFTA, adding that “we need to see our progress in writing from the Trade Representative for final review.” Pelosi released the statement in the evening of Nov. 25. She said that the original draft of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that USTR reached with Canada and Mexico “still left American workers exposed to losing their jobs to Mexico, included unacceptable provisions to lock in high prescription drug prices, and fell short of key environmental standards,” but most of all, it had no concrete enforcement mechanisms. If Pelosi reaches agreement with USTR, the next step will be a draft implementing bill from USTR, and mock markups in the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee to shape the final bill.
The steel and aluminum tariffs should end as part of any Section 232 reform, a coalition of metal consumers is arguing. The Coalition of American Manufacturers and Users, the American Association of Exporters and Importers, the National Foreign Trade Council and two other trade associations sent a letter Nov. 19 to the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee. They were reacting to a statement by Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that any reform would not address the steel and aluminum tariffs (see 1911050043). “Reforming the 232 statute without allowing for an end to the current steel and aluminum tariffs would ensure that this harm continues with no end in sight," the groups said. Grassley and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., should "include a sunsetting provision that addresses current 232 tariffs in the mark that goes before the Senate Finance Committee to allow for a debate on these harmful tariffs and to ensure all stakeholders have a voice in the process."
Two Democrat and two Republican senators want to give the Commerce Department the ability to add substitutable products to antidumping and countervailing duty cases, to help fight circumvention of those duties. It would only apply to nonmarket economies. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., are calling the bill, which was introduced Nov. 19, the Play By the Rules Act. They say that China violates the spirit of the law by altering products that are about to be hit with duties. “In fact, of all the anti-circumvention petitions ever filed for ‘minor alterations,’ almost 70 percent are against China," a bill explainer said. Baldwin and Capito introduced a bill with same name in last session of Congress, in 2018. It did not get any hearings or votes.
The trade war that President Donald Trump began with China 16 months ago is creating pain for businesses, but there's a deeper strategic mistake to consider, said Matthew Goodman, senior vice president for Asian economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Goodman, who was speaking during the first session in a Congressional Trade Series on Nov. 19, said, “I still don't know what the basic strategic goal is here." He said he didn't know whether the administration wants to get structural changes to China's economy, as it claims, or whether it wants to reduce the bilateral trade deficit, or to contain China's rise.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., held a press event Nov. 17 to draw attention to the problem of substandard over-the-counter drugs and topical medicines imported from China and sold at dollar stores. Schumer pointed to a Food and Drug Administration compliance letter sent to the parent company of Dollar Tree earlier in the month, which asked the corporation to identify how it would change its supply chain so that it was no longer buying from firms that are on import alerts, such as the acne treatment pads it received from Shanghai Weieyra Daily Chemicals Factory and drugs from Hangzhou Zhongbo Industrial Company.
Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, the National Taxpayers Union and 16 other groups sent a letter Nov. 15 to every member of Congress urging them to reject pension reform legislation that has been talked about as a possible companion to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement implementing bill (see 1910160054). "Attaching any of them to other legislation, from must-pass appropriations to the USMCA trade agreement, is unacceptable," the groups said.
The nominee for Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden would need to review the specifics of a case that involves Section 301 tariffs before deciding whether a recusal is necessary, he said during a Nov. 13 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Vaden, who is general counsel at the Department of Agriculture and a member of the board of the Commodity Credit Corporation, said that he was involved in some discussion of the Section 301 tariffs as they related to aid given to farmers. Asked by ranking member Dianne Feinstein of California whether those discussions might result in a recusal in cases involving the tariffs, Vaden said he would follow the judicial standards for making the decision. “I would need to take a look at the parties that were before me, the issues that they were bringing, consult the law and also potentially consult my fellow judges before making a decision on a case by case basis regarding recusal," he said.
Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer said he doesn't know if they'll to be able to evaluate the details of the U.S.-Japan skinny trade deal in the hearing scheduled for next week, because the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has not released the text yet. He said in a Nov. 13 interview it's “troubling" that the House Ways and Means Committee has not received text of the deal, which was signed Sept. 26. "Sometimes dealing with USTR can be a little opaque, which is one of my constants through several administrations," he said.
Do not change de minimis through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, 130 House members told U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month, in a letter led by the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee chairman and ranking member. Members of both parties have panned the idea of a reciprocal de minimis in the NAFTA rewrite. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, recently said that the $800 threshold will not be changed through the implementing legislation (see 1910290048).
The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing Nov. 20 on the U.S.-Japan mini trade deal, and on the prospects for a second phase of negotiations to reach a more comprehensive agreement. It starts at 10 a.m. in Room 2020 Rayburn.