Twenty Republicans on the committee that handles trade in the House of Representatives wrote to President Donald Trump July 25, asking him to start negotiating directly with Chinese President Xi Jingping. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, asked Trump to meet with Xi weeks ago (see 1807110024), and the letter uses the same kind of flattery for Trump's deal-making prowess that Brady has often repeated (see 1807170004). "We are confident that if you personally engage with President Xi, you would reinvigorate the negotiations and develop meaningful solutions that will establish free, fair, and lasting trade between the United States and China and improve the competitiveness of U.S. companies," the letter says. "To your credit, you have developed a strong personal relationship with President Xi."
Two Southern states senators introduced their bill on Section 232 tariffs while the president was talking to the European Union about threatened auto tariffs. The Automotive Jobs Act of 2018 requires the International Trade Commission "to conduct a comprehensive study of the well-being, health, and vitality of the United States automotive industry before tariffs could be applied." The bill is co-sponsored by Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala. Both have significant auto plants in their states.
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Trade is trying to force the administration to disclose information about its decision-making process on tariffs. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., would have to get the House Speaker to bring the resolution up for a vote, in addition to securing a majority vote. The resolution asks for documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations that explain why the president chose a global 25 percent tariff on steel after the Commerce Department gave a global 24 percent tariff as one option, and why he made the aluminum tariff 10 percent, rather than 7.7 percent, as laid out by Commerce. It also asks for information on how the administration intends to help exporters hurt in the trade war, and its strategy on resolving the problems laid out in the Section 301 report, either through multilateral action or through negotiations with China.
The Toy Association is actively working with CBP and the Consumer Product Safety Commission on e-commerce issues, it said in a newly released letter sent to the Senate Finance Committee on July 6. "The significant increase to the de minimis threshold, coupled with online platform as storefronts and efficiencies in logistics, have opened up entirely new business models of direct to consumer sales from factories in China and other countries," the TIA said. "We remain supportive of initiatives to improve enforcement and targeting of infringing goods by CBP and CPSC, especially for low-value shipments. The de minimis exemption cannot be an exemption from regulatory compliance and enforcement -- intellectual property, safety or otherwise. Importantly, because the average cost of a toy is approximately $10, the de minimis exemption value of $800 is a considerable number of toys, allowing for shipments well beyond personal use."
The Section 232 steel and aluminum product exclusion process is flat-out broken, according to House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and he said at least four aspects of the Commerce Department approach need to change. Brady, who was speaking to reporters at the Capitol on July 23, said the length of the exclusion -- now a year from the time it's granted -- should be longer. He said there should be a way to appeal a denial. If a product is excluded for one company, it should be excluded for all importers of the same product. And, he said, "we think you ought to grandfather major existing projects," such as pipelines under construction.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will testify July 26 in front of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, which oversees the Commerce Department. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is not part of the Commerce Department, but is under the Executive Office of the President.
Trade Adjustment Assistance -- the retraining and wage support program designed to help workers whose jobs were eliminated by offshoring and surges of imports -- should be expanded to cover those who were laid off because their export markets were lost, some Congress members say. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., along with three other Democrats, introduced a bill July 17 that would make these people eligible for the program, which pays tuition and extends unemployment insurance for up to two years. "Nobody wins in a trade war, and the biggest casualties are hardworking Americans," DelBene said. "While the President plays games with our economy, we will continue to fight for good jobs and good wages."
Lawmakers, farmers and agriculture trade groups voiced worries about the effect of tariffs on rural communities during a July 18 House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing. "Most of our agriculture producers today rely heavily on export markets, and unfortunately, many of these farmers and producers are now facing the loss of not just one of their top international export markets, but their top 2, 3 and 4 export markets -- all at once," Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., said in an opening statement. "They are facing severe and devastating uncertainty -- and that goes right to their profitability." In response to recent sections 232 and 301 tariffs, "U.S. agriculture is now facing retaliatory tariffs from the EU, China, Mexico, Canada, Turkey, Russia and India," he said. "Now, I know that the administration did not intend for U.S. agriculture to be hurt, but the damage is entirely predictable."
The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the product exclusion process on July 24. In announcing the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., said, "Our witnesses will describe the damage they are experiencing firsthand as they struggle through this cumbersome product exclusion process. We owe it to our companies and workers to find effective solutions to streamline and improve this burdensome process and ease the pain created by these tariffs."
The Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act, which would change how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is able to designate injurious species, and thereby prevent their importation, was reintroduced July 12. The bill, H.R. 6362, was introduced in the Senate by Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and in the House of Representatives by Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. The same bill had been sponsored in the House by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., in a previous session (see 1607110067). Slaughter died in office this year.