China’s alleged oversupply of aluminum presents an “unrelenting” threat to U.S. producers of the metal, and the International Trade Commission should closely review filings in its ongoing aluminum investigation to reveal foreign government policies that hurt U.S. industry’s ability to compete, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in submitted testimony to ITC Chairman Irving Williamson and Vice Chairman David Johanson (here). Schumer also called on the Obama administration and future presidents to aggressively enforce antidumping and countervailing duty orders, and to continue bilateral and multilateral engagement to address China’s overcapacity. “Numerous diplomatic efforts to address aluminum overcapacity have not resulted in any commitments by China to cut their net aluminum capacity,” Schumer said. “We must do all that we can, th[r]ough diplomacy and strong enforcement tools, to make sure that foreign producers’ predatory practices do not cause future layoffs or plant closures.” In a letter led by Ohio Sens. Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), a bipartisan group of 12 senators told President Barack Obama that a dialogue-only approach won’t succeed in eliminating the global oversupply of steel, and said trade enforcement should be a major part of addressing the issue, while acknowledging that ongoing diplomatic talks are important (see 1610030041).
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
The EU must work more diligently with the U.S. to negotiate a comprehensive, high-standard Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership for the deal to pass Congress, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). U.S. and EU officials are undertaking the 15th round of negotiations in New York Oct. 3-7.
Twelve senators wrote a bipartisan letter (here) urging President Barack Obama to continue efforts to secure Chinese commitments to reduce its steel capacity to an acceptable level, after meetings this year of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development Steel Committee, U.S.-China Steel Dialogue, and Strategic and Economic Dialogue produced no definitive assurances. Led by Ohio Sens. Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), the senators said a dialogue-only approach won’t succeed in eliminating the global oversupply of steel, and said trade enforcement should be a major part of addressing the issue, while acknowledging that ongoing diplomatic talks are important.
Trade agreements’ impacts on the federal budget are unclear, but they yield small positive impacts on total U.S. trade and the U.S. economy, according to a study by the Congressional Budget Office (here). The U.S. has negotiated deals with mostly much smaller economies, and tariffs and other barriers were already limited when the agreements entered into force, CBO said. Trade deals have had minimal effects on the U.S. trade balance, and have spurred more U.S. investment in member countries’ economies, which has helped catalyze foreign direct investment into the U.S., CBO said. Empirical estimates show that the agreements have had small, positive effects on U.S. productivity, output and employment, CBO said. “But those estimates are uncertain and may be understated, because the effects of nontariff provisions are hard to measure and because issues with data keep researchers from identifying how [Preferential Trade Agreements] affect the service sector," CBO said.
Forty-one House lawmakers on Sept. 28 sent a bipartisan letter urging U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman ensure bilateral negotiations over Canadian softwood lumber shipments result in imports being capped at an established U.S. market share (here). Led by Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. (see 1608050022), the letter said ongoing Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) negotiations should secure fair competition for U.S. industry, even if negotiations were to run past Oct. 13, the date a one-year reprieve on trade cases involving Canadian softwood imports will end. The last bilateral Softwood Lumber Agreement, which lapsed in October 2015, dictated a full-year ban on trade cases following its expiration. Froman and Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Matthew Vogel will meet in Toronto Oct. 5 with Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canadian softwood lumber industry representatives in hopes of concluding a new deal, since the last bilateral Softwood Lumber Agreement has expired. Freeland said Canada is preparing for possible litigation, in case no deal is secured by Oct. 13 (see 1609160015).
The House passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 on Sept. 28, sending the legislation (here) to conference after the Senate passed its version of the bill on Sept. 15 (see 1609150071). The House version differs from the Senate version in the treatment of the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT), among other things. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee didn’t comment. The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) called for a speedy resolution of the differences "We urge the Senate and the House to reach agreement as quickly as possible on a final bill, enabling the federal government to uphold its end of the partnership by authorizing badly needed investments to waterside connections with seaports.”
The “preference” of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., same as House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., “would be to pass several minibuses if we could,” he told reporters Sept. 29. “We’ll just have to see what we can move.” Both chambers of Congress passed a short-term continuing resolution Sept. 28, funding the federal government through Dec. 9. President Barack Obama signed the CR on Sept. 29. McConnell’s “top priority” in the lame-duck session will be FY 2017 government funding and the 21st Century Cures legislation, he said, dismissing prospects for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 1609220036). “Our appropriators are going to be working all month, all October,” Ryan told reporters in a separate news conference, agreeing with the minibus strategy but saying he doesn't know which appropriations measures may be clumped together. “The groundwork has been laid to do a good funding bill for the rest of the year,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at a different conference. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to do it.”
The World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), NAFTA, and U.S. bilateral free trade agreements with Australia, Colombia and South Korea bear general similarities in government procurement text and commitments, but show some differences that reflect newer technology, according to a Government Accountability Office report (here). Similarities could stem from concurrent negotiation of the GPA and other FTAs, the report said. The 2014 revised GPA overall provides wider market access than the FTAs that were reviewed; for example, the revised GPA covers 85 central U.S. government entities, but NAFTA covers only 53 U.S. government entities, the report said. GAO’s GPA review focused on the U.S. and trading partners with the top five GPA procurement markets -- the EU, Japan, Canada, South Korea and Norway. The report pointed out that Mexico and Canada don’t have a sub-central government entity coverage schedule in NAFTA, and that South Korea doesn’t have one in the Korea-U.S. FTA. For its report, GAO analyzed WTO and U.S. documents pertaining to the GPA and U.S. FTAs, and interviewed Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Commerce Department officials. GAO didn't make recommendations in the report.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman met with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert, R-Wash., on Sept. 27, to discuss moving the Trans-Pacific Partnership forward in Congress, the full committee announced (here). Brady in a statement said he wants to find a path forward for the deal in Congress, but lamented potential final outcomes if the Obama administration fails to address Congress members’ remaining concerns. “The White House must quickly address existing concerns of members who serve both on and off our committee,” Brady said. “Without these substantive changes, the House will not have the votes to approve TPP, and American workers will continue to lose customers to other countries. The clock is ticking, and the White House must act soon.”