All of the Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, from the left and center wings of the party, sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Dec. 19, saying Peru has made "a flagrant attack on the heart of the [U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (Peru Trade Agreement)'s] Forestry Annex that cannot go unchallenged." They asked the administration to take enforcement measures if Peru does not reverse course by the end of this week.
A half-dozen members of the House Ways and Means Committee -- including the outgoing Trade Subcommittee chairman -- sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saying the steel and aluminum tariffs on Mexico and Canada need to go. Five Republicans, led by Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana, signed the letter, as did Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis. Kind, whose dairy farming constituents are among those hurt by Mexican retaliation for the tariffs, is interested in leading the Trade Subcommittee next year. They wrote that "we urge you to put the highest priority on lifting the steel and aluminum tariffs and retaliation entirely as soon as possible, and certainly before congressional consideration." The USTR has said he is working on finding a solution to the tariffs on Mexico and Canada, but has not offered a timeline for when agreement might be reached. Only Australia has been given an exemption without a quota so far.
The retiring chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross complaining that businesses can't get answers from the department, the exclusion process is too slow and staff provide ambiguous guidance when requests are rejected on technical grounds. Chairman Orrin Hatch and Wyden asked the department to get requests adjudicated in no more than 106 days, to clearly identify technical defects, and to improve its responses to questions. In their letter, they thanked Ross for adding a rebuttal and surrebuttal process, and for expanding exclusion eligibility to quota countries.
President Donald Trump, whose demands for more border wall funding have run aground in Congress, tweeted early on Dec. 13 that the revised NAFTA will save so much more money that it pays for the wall. He said: "Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA, is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal, that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!"
Withdrawing from NAFTA to secure approval of its replacement will backfire, warned the chairman of the New Democrats, a group of 68 House of Representatives members generally seen as pro-free trade, in a statement issued Dec. 10. One of the New Democrats who serves on the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., is interested in leading that subcommittee next year (see 1811140049). New Dems Chairman Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said withdrawal "will create economic chaos and not build the trust necessary for bipartisan progress." Himes said he met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Dec. 7, and had a constructive conversation in which Himes said Lighthizer expressed his desire to work closely with members of Congress. "I agreed that such engagement would be essential to consideration of the revised NAFTA," Himes said. In his statement, he noted that his caucus was integral to getting fast-track legislation passed, as well as "every trade agreement in recent decades.... This administration will need bipartisan support to successfully push trade agreements through Congress and we urge the Administration to engage with us on this and other agreements moving forward."
A withdrawal of the U.S. from NAFTA by President Donald Trump could help push the new NAFTA through Congress, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who will take over the Senate Finance Committee next year. Grassley, who was speaking on an agriculture radio program on Dec. 3, also praised the president's approach to trade more broadly.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a 10 a.m. EST hearing Dec. 11 in 226 Dirksen, at which it will hear from CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan.
Sen. Ron Johnson, who leads the Senate committee charged with oversight, is complaining again to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross about the inadequacies of the Section 232 steel and aluminum exclusion process. Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, sent a letter Nov. 30 that said he appreciates that the department has begun to produce documents and has provided officials for briefings, but he questioned the logic of rejecting exclusions when the steel companies object, saying they could produce the quality and quantity now imported.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who will lead the Senate committee responsible for trade in January, tweeted his displeasure with remarks on trade talks by the European Union ambassador to Washington on Nov. 28 (see 1811280040). Ambassador David O'Sullivan said that if agriculture were included in a free trade agreement between the EU and the U.S., it would take three or four years to negotiate, and that's not what they want. Grassley, who owns a farm in Iowa, said the EU's stance hurts American agriculture, and added that he feels that EU officials "are trying to pull one over" on President Donald Trump "to the detriment of American farmers." He said that Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer "R too smart 4 that!"
House Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Directs Administration's Attention to Mexican Union Election
The top-ranking Democrat in trade in the House of Representatives, and a man who once chaired the Ways and Means trade subcommittee, wrote to the U.S. trade representative and the U.S. labor secretary, asking them to push Mexican labor authorities to ensure that a labor election Nov. 29 is free and fair. There are 2,741 workers in Mexico at an Indian-held conglomerate who have the opportunity to choose a new union. The last time they voted, in 2012, worker chose to stay with an employer-sponsored union. The firm makes wire harnesses for U.S. automakers, the congressmen said. "This case is emblematic of Mexico's longstanding failure to afford workers the democratic right to choose their representatives," Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Rep. Sandy Levin, D-Mich., wrote Nov. 28. "We ask that you work with the Mexican labor authorities to underscore the importance of this particular election and highlight the critical importance of effectively enforcing workers’ rights to the success of a renegotiated NAFTA."