Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., urged U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom to work more closely to enforce international trade regulations. In a letter (here), the lawmakers noted that the U.S. and China have collaborated at the World Trade Organization and other multilateral bodies on trade enforcement, including leveling a joint WTO case effort against Chinese export restrictions on raw materials (see 1607190039), but they said other cooperation hasn’t gone far enough. An EU official countered the lawmakers' claims, saying in an email that this was the third joint WTO action filed by the U.S. and EU, showing that "we do work together, and effectively." Experts in the European Commission, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department should collaborate on whether the upcoming expiration of a section of China’s WTO Accession Protocol in December obligates countries to deem China a market economy, the lawmakers said. China argues that the expiration of the protocol section that stipulates China can be treated as a non-market economy for antidumping purposes underlies an obligation for other countries to treat it as a market economy.
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
Bipartisan support is expanding for a bill that would bar exports of “sacred Native American items” and raise penalties for stealing and illegally trafficking inherited cultural goods, said Arizona Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain, who are among co-sponsors of the bill (here). The bill would also create a tribal working group to help federal agencies grasp the problem and find possible solutions. “I will continue working with my colleagues and tribal communities to ensure we build on this momentum so we can help repatriate stolen culturally significant artifacts back to Indian Country,” original bill sponsor Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said in a statement. Several Native American tribes have endorsed the legislation, which was introduced July 6 (see 1607070036), including the Navajo Nation and the Jicarilla Apache Nation, according to Flake’s and McCain’s offices.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership likely faces tough odds in the House and isn't likely to get congressional consideration in the near future, Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said of the House dynamics, speaking during a July 18 event hosted by The Atlantic. “My guess is if you put it up for a vote on the House floor today, it would go down dramatically,” Walden said, expecting 10 Democrats or fewer to vote for the deal and saying he is unsure of GOP support. He cited the importance of trade to his home state and Intel’s presence. The presumptive GOP and Democratic presidential nominees have criticized the deal.
A group of 25 senators led by Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, urged the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to conclude a new U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) that will limit Canadian lumber exports to an agreed-upon U.S. market share, adding that Canadian imports “are capturing an ever larger market share,” which seriously imperils U.S. mills, workers and communities. In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here), the senators said only a long-term agreement would materialize into anything impactful. “The now-expired 2006 trade agreement became an ineffective framework for managing subsidized Canadian lumber trade as market realities changed since that agreement was put in place,” the letter says. “A truly durable solution cannot be based on an outmoded framework that does not offset the harmful effects of subsidized Canadian lumber in impaired or unfairly traded imports.”
Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:
The House on July 14 passed a Senate-sponsored compromise biotech labeling bill by a vote of 306-117 exactly a week after it easily passed the Senate. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who plans to sign it, said the White House. The legislation would supersede state mandatory biotech labeling regulations, including one that took effect in Vermont July 1, and it would require companies to disclose the presence of GMO ingredients in food via printed text, a symbol or digital link, including a digitally scannable “QR” code, which has raised concern among Democrats.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 29-21 to approve a bill (here) that would give the federal government ultimate authority over “Made in U.S.A.” or “Made in America” product labeling for products introduced or sold in foreign or interstate commerce. The bill would mean the Federal Trade Commission’s labeling regulations, including the FTC's import content requirements for products labeled U.S.-origin, would supersede state laws. Several companies have faced lawsuits in California over the state's stricter Made in U.S.A. standard (see 1411030049). The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
Congress should consider legislation that would clearly authorize the executive branch to target Chinese currency manipulation under U.S. trade remedy laws, American Iron and Steel Institute CEO Thomas Gibson said in testimony submitted for a July 14 Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing (here). That legislation -- the Currency Undervaluation Investigation Act -- sits in the Senate Finance Committee and would require the U.S. government to start a countervailing duty investigation when petitioned to find whether any foreign country’s government is “directly or indirectly” providing a countervailable subsidy to exporters' products through currency manipulation. A Senate Finance spokesperson said the legislation isn’t on the committee calendar.
The Obama administration would likely need to provide draft Trans-Pacific Partnership implementing legislation before November for any real chance of congressional passage during its upcoming lame duck session, new National Foreign Trade Council President Rufus Yerxa said July 12. “You probably can’t just start the clock in the lame duck with the legislation submitted and make it absolutely certain that you’d have a vote at the end, because the number of legislative days and everything would go beyond the session,” Yerxa said.