Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a bill reforming Section 232 won't be introduced in his committee until after the Senate votes on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, because, he said, that vote is a political complication for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Grassley, who was responding to a question from International Trade Today Nov. 12, said he doesn't think Wyden has a problem with the NAFTA rewrite, but that "it's a problem for Democrats generally, and I think he's got that to work with, and needs more time on 232. And I’m willing to give him more time, because I don’t see how I can move productively ahead without his cooperation."
Members of Congress who are the Congressional-Executive Commission on China members asked the acting CBP commissioner to issue more withhold release orders for textiles or other goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang province, where about a million Uighur Muslims are held in internment camps. The senators and representatives noted that CBP did block the imports of Heitan Taida Apparel Company, and said that sent an important message, but much more should be done.
A 17-month bipartisan investigation by the Senate Finance Committee has concluded that the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act should be amended to help companies combat the sales of counterfeit goods.
NEW YORK -- Moises Kalach, leader of the Mexican Coalition for USMCA and vice president of a textile conglomerate in Mexico, said his organization has met with 172 House offices and 30 Senate offices, and has particularly targeted 94 House Democrats -- from border states, moderates, Hispanics, pro-free trade, or on the Ways and Means Committee (many members fit more than one category).
After the Senate Finance Committee chairman called out Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., as a hurdle to getting Section 232 reform through the committee, in a speech on the Senate floor (see 1911050043), Wyden said there is no legislation to introduce. “I share the chairman’s goal of legislation to discipline Donald Trump’s erratic use of trade authorities that could gain overwhelming bipartisan support, and I look forward to working toward that goal,” he said in a statement issued the evening of Nov. 5. "As of now, that legislation does not exist, due to concerns on both sides of the aisle.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D.-N.J., have asked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer if Rudy Giuliani or Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, discussed Ukraine with him, as they try to find out why he withdrew a recommendation in August to partially restore Ukraine to the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program. About 150 tariff lines of Ukrainian exports were restored to GSP on Oct. 30 (see 1910280044). They also asked why it was withdrawn a second time on Oct. 17, and asked if USTR discussed the restoration with the president before the White House proclamation about Ukraine and GSP was issued Oct. 25.
Sens. Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin and Chris Murphy, all Democrats, jointly submitted a comment to the Federal Trade Commission asking that it strengthen its enforcement of "Made in the USA" labels. "To date, the Commission has relied largely on 'no fault, no money' settlements and 'closing letters' to respond to Made in the USA infractions," they wrote, and said the fact that companies don't have to admit guilt or pay a fine leads to repeat offenses. They said the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended the FTC "undertake a rulemaking in this area to make Made in the USA violations more likely to result in a disgorgement or admission of liability."
Rep. Ross Spano, R-Fla., gave a short speech on the floor of the House Oct. 28, calling for a change to antidumping laws so that growers from one region can bring a case over agricultural competition during their growing seasons. "Strawberry growers in Plant City, Florida, are under attack," Spano said.
A bill that would allow harbor maintenance spending to go forward outside the appropriations process, as long as there is money in the Harbor Maintenance Fund, passed the House of Representatives the evening of Oct. 28, 296-109, but faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross responded to Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., complaining that her latest letter is wrong to say that his department has not provided "a substantive and comprehensive response" to her earlier questions and complaints about the Section 232 exclusion process.