House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, characterized a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as a good dialogue, but according to some media reports, Democrats who attended the June 7 meeting said Lighthizer did not provide a clear explanation of where the U.S. is in NAFTA talks or in the China trade dispute. "My message remains the same: our trade practices need to hit the right target which is China … not our allies, and certainly not Americans," Brady said in a statement issued after the meeting. "But the Administration’s recent actions don’t achieve that goal."
Several lawmakers submitted letters for and against the inclusion of specific tariff codes in the proposed list of products to face higher tariffs under the Section 301 investigation. The letters were posted in the Section 301 docket on June 5, though many are dated from May. Among the letters are a request from Rep. Glenn Thompson, R- Pa., that bookbinding machinery be removed from the list, and a request from Reps. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., asking that vehicle hoists receive tariffs. Eight members of the California delegation asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative not to impose tariffs that would harm the state's agricultural industry, and Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., complained that the administration has "hesitated" to implement the tariffs.
Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican Trump critic from Tennessee who is retiring at the end of the year, told reporters in the Capitol June 5 that he will be introducing a bill that would not allow the president to implement tariffs or quotas based on national security concerns without congressional approval. That authority was given to the executive branch in 1962. According to a source familiar with the bill, if passed, it would require the president to submit to Congress actions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. "For a 60-day period following submission, legislation to approve the proposal will qualify for expedited consideration, guaranteeing the opportunity for both debate and a vote." This would give Congress an opportunity to veto tariffs on autos and auto parts -- an investigation under Section 232 recently began (see 1805240002). The bill would also apply to the administration's steel and aluminum tariffs and quotas, the source said.
The Congressional Research Service updated its report on Trade Promotion Authority on May 25 with several pieces of information. For example, regarding a deadline for the president to submit a draft implementing bill to Congress, the report now says that if the U.S. enters into a trade agreement for which TPA is provided, the president can submit the bill on a day on "which both the House and the Senate are in session, regardless of whether TPA expired before that date." Generally, "the submission of the implementing bill usually has been coordinated with leadership of the House and Senate." For the ongoing NAFTA negotiation, the CRS report now explains that the NAFTA Implementation Act "gave the President proclamation authority for certain tariff modifications, and certain modifications to rules of origin," with the proclamations "subject to consultation and layover requirements."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are seeking information from several slices of the e-commerce industry on counterfeit goods, the lawmakers said in a news release. Hatch and Wyden wrote to undisclosed rights holder trade associations, online retailers, shipping companies and payment processors in May 30 letters with questions about preventing counterfeit goods in the U.S. “As part of our ongoing work, we write today to request information from your company on the types of activities you participate in, facilitate, or otherwise have knowledge of to help us better inform American consumers of the dangers of counterfeit goods as well as to curtail the illegal sale of counterfeits through e-commerce sites,” Hatch and Wyden wrote. “Through this endeavor, we hope to learn more about your organization’s experience with counterfeit goods and to collect information on ways in which organizations can better protect consumers from such goods in the future. The information we receive will be used to help inform a public report.”
A Republican senator who opposed Donald Trump during the primary campaign and the Senate minority leader both reacted to New York Times reporting that the administration will roll back the seven-year export ban on Chinese telecommunications equipment giant ZTE. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted a link to the story, and said it is a great deal for China. China "crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us. Many hoped this time would be different. Now Congress will need to act," he said.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., along with all the committee's other Democrats, asked committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, to hold hearings on U.S.-China trade, calling administration officials as witnesses. The letter, sent May 24, says the administration is holding high-level meetings on trade with China, and members of Congress only know what's going on during those talks by following press reports. They said this is unacceptable, and said "press reports indicate an increasingly baffling set of circumstances and developments." They said that the messages from different officials conflict, including what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says and what President Donald Trump says about Chinese telecommunications equipment company ZTE and how the talks are going.
Appropriations bills for fiscal year 2019 that are moving through both chambers of Congress ignored the president's suggestion to cut the Harbor Maintenance Tax (see 1802150028), and aim to dedicate more funding for dredging, locks maintenance and jetty maintenance. The tax is currently $0.125 per $100 of cargo value. In the current fiscal year, the government is spending $1.4 billion out of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund. The House appropriations bill recommends increasing that to $1.6 billion; the Senate version recommends $1.53 billion. Steve Fisher, executive director of the American Great Lakes Ports Association, said, "$130 million more, that's quite a bit."
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who's a leading voice against free trade deals, introduced a bill May 22 "to enhance reciprocal market access." The bill was originally introduced by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., who died earlier this year.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced a bill meant to prevent "imports of fraudulent organic products that undercut American farmers," she said in a news release. The Organic Farmer and Consumer Protection Act would require that all National Organic Program Import Certificates include information on "the organic standard to which the agricultural product is certified," among other things. The bill would also require the Agriculture Secretary to create a system to track organic import certificates, which may be added "into any existing information tracking systems for imports of agricultural products." The Agriculture Department would also have to publicly release "detailed quantitative data on imports of organically produced agricultural products accepted
into" the U.S.. The legislation also calls for information sharing between ACE and the Hypomania Certificate Issuance and Tracking System of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The bill follows industry concerns and press reports related to cheap imports improperly labeled as organic (see 1705150031).