Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bill:
The Senate used an expedited approval procedure on Aug. 3 to approve several trade-related nominations. Approved nominations include Mira Ricardel to be under secretary of commerce for export administration, Richard Ashooh to be assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, Vishal Amin to be White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator, Robert Wood Johnson IV to be U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Kelly Kraft to be U.S. ambassador to Canada.
The Agriculture Department should be consistent with international standards and consider rural residents, the elderly and consumers without smartphones in crafting genetically modified organism disclosure standards, 22 House Democrats said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Legislation signed into law in July 2016 requires USDA to develop a standard by July 29, 2018, to disclose the presence of GMO ingredients in food via printed text, symbol or digital link, including a digitally scannable “QR” code. “We expect USDA's mandatory GMO disclosure standard to apply to all GMO foods, including foods which contain ingredients like highly refined sugars and oils, as well as foods produced with new genetic engineering techniques,” says the letter led by Rep. Pete DeFazio of Oregon. “The standard should require that GMO disclosures be consistent with those of our international trading partners, provide ingredient-level information, and be a presence claim, not a ‘may contain’ claim.”
Thirteen Senate Democrats in an Aug. 4 letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb expressed displeasure about his agency’s decision to delay by five years the implementation of rules that will deem e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco subject to FDA’s tobacco regulations. The “deeming rule” was originally set to take effect on May 10, before the FDA delayed the deadline by three months (see 1705120035). Under revised timelines announced July 28, the FDA will accept applications for newly regulated combustible products like cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah tobacco through Aug. 8, 2021, as well as applications for non-combustible products such as “electronic nicotine delivery systems” and e-cigarettes through Aug. 8, 2022.
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
Four Republican senators on Aug. 3 introduced legislation containing language similar to a bill introduced July 28 in the House that would require port of entry modernization (see 1707310026). Introduced by Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the “Building America’s Trust Act” would require modernization of the top 10 high-volume ports of entry, including expanding primary and secondary inspection lanes. Both bills would require completion of modernization by Sept. 30, 2021.
Four Senate Democrats sent a letter to 16 retailers urging cancelation of contracts with port trucking companies believed to treat workers poorly. Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California cited a June 16 report in USA Today as the basis for their plea for retailers to ensure that only companies in compliance with federal and state labor laws transport their goods. “We were disappointed to learn that some companies have reportedly helped perpetuate these abuses by turning a blind eye to labor violations and worker mistreatment occurring at port trucking companies they contract with,” the senators said. The letter went to Target, Hewlett Packard, Home Depot, Hasbro, J. Crew, UPS, Goodyear, Costco, Ralph Lauren, TJX, LG Electronics, JC Penney, Steve Madden, Neiman Marcus, Walmart and Amazon. “As a major U.S. corporation, you also have a role to play in ensuring that you are not complicit in the mistreatment of port truck drivers and that American consumers, your customers, are not unwittingly supporting labor abuses in the United States,” the senators wrote.
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, on July 28 introduced legislation that would require the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade license plate readers at all ports of entry and to expand inspection lanes at high-volume ports of entry on the southern border. The Border Security for America Act would require CBP to upgrade the readers within one year of enactment, and for the CBP commissioner “not later than 90 days after” enactment to conduct a one-month pilot at the top three southern land ports of entry. The pilots would be tasked with testing the readers at one or two cargo lanes to determine effectiveness in reducing cross-border wait times for commercial traffic and tractor-trailers. The bill would authorize $125 million to be appropriated in fiscal year 2018 for the pilots, and would require DHS within 180 days of enactment to report to Congress on the pilots’ results and any recommendations for implementing the use of new license plate reader technology on the southern border.
Top Republicans on the Senate and House Judiciary committees called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Acting Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen to work to include competition chapters in all U.S. trade agreements, and to work with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in creating a “model” competition chapter. In a July 28 letter to Sessions and Ohlhausen, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said the inclusion of such chapters in trade agreements is increasingly important, “given the proliferation of antitrust agencies around the world.” NAFTA renegotiations also present an opportunity for “even more robust competition commitments,” as the U.S., Canada and Mexico have a relatively close alignment on competition policy, the chairman said.