The recent renminbi devaluation illustrates the urgent need to enact the Currency Undervaluation Investigation Act, a currency measure in the Senate’s version of Customs Reauthorization (here), said AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director, William Samuel, in a letter to Congress on Aug. 17. The AFL-CIO has spearheaded efforts to enact currency legislation for years, and in recent days the group of unions chastised lawmakers for inaction following a roughly 4 percent drop in the renminbi value (see 1508130010).
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, will block the nomination of Marisa Lago for deputy U.S. Trade Representative on the Senate floor over USTR’s failure to provide Trans-Pacific Partnership text to congressional staffers with “requisite security clearances,” Brown said on Aug. 14. A statement released by his office said Brown threatened to prevent a vote on the nomination unless USTR officials provided that clearance by Aug. 14. “The administration would rather sacrifice a nominee for a key post than improve transparency of the largest trade agreement ever negotiated,” Brown said (here). “This deal could affect more the 40 percent of our global economy, but even seasoned policy advisors with the requisite security clearance can’t review text without being accompanied by a member of Congress. It shouldn’t be easier for multinational corporations to get their hands on trade text than for public servants looking out for American workers and American manufacturers.” USTR didn't respond for comment. The Senate Finance Committee, of which Brown is a member, approved the Lago nomination (see 1508050057).
The Justice Department’s deputy attorney general and inspector general are actively working with Congress on legislation to guarantee inspectors general more access to agency information across the government, and the two officials should send that language to the Congress by Aug. 28, said a dozen high-ranking House and Senate lawmakers in recent days. The Aug. 13 letter to Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates and Inspector General Michael Horowitz follows a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier in the month, in which the Commerce Department’s Acting Inspector General David Smith complained of obstacles to obtaining International Trade Administration data. During the hearing, Smith said his office had to abandon an ITA audit after Commerce refused to hand over business property information (see 1508070012). Federal agencies have used a recent Justice Department opinion (here), released on July 20, to prevent access to inspectors general, said Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and nine other lawmakers. "This opinion undermines the long-standing presumption that inspectors general have access to any and all information that they deem necessary for effective oversight,” said the letter. “It is apparent that Congress needs to act to ensure that inspectors general have complete and immediate access to all records in the possession of their respective agencies, unless a statute restricting access to documents expressly states that the provision applies to inspectors general.”
The Obama administration “strongly” supports congressional action to lift the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba, Secretary of State John Kerry said at the ceremony to open the U.S. embassy in Havana on Aug. 14. Kerry applauded recent U.S. executive and regulatory action to ease trade, travel and financial restrictions on dealings with Cuba (see 1501150031). He also, however, pushed the Cuban government to reciprocate. “And just as we are doing our part, we urge the Cuban Government to make it less difficult for their citizens to start businesses, to engage in trade, access information online,” said Kerry. “The embargo has always been something of a two-way street – both sides need to remove restrictions that have been holding Cubans back.” President Barack Obama urged repeal of the embargo in his 2015 State of the Union speech (see 1501210012). So far this Congress, lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced bills to fully normalize ties (see 1501160009 and 1506120019), but those bills have not advanced through the congressional process.
There hasn’t been “any effort to include” a recently-introduced bill on non-resident importer agents in a Customs Reauthorization compromise bill, said a spokesman for House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Aug. 14. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., introduced the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2015, HR-3304 (here), at the end of July. The bill, which would force foreign manufacturers to name a U.S. agent responsible for import liability, resembles language in the House Customs Reauthorization bill (see 1508120069). A spokesman for Cartwright declined to comment on prospects for the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act in customs conference, which may launch in September (Ref:1507290041]). “The congressman is committed to building bipartisan support for this initiative that should have broad appeal,” the spokesman said.
President Barack Obama should pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve his country’s record on human rights abuses during Jinping’s upcoming visit to Washington in September, said a bipartisan group of 10 Senators in a recent letter to Obama. The two heads of state will likely discuss trade and a range of economic issues, but human rights also “deserve a full and robust exchange of views,” said the lawmakers, which include Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., Foreign Relations ranking member Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas. Jinping’s heavy-handed approach to quashing political dissent and preventing terrorism, as well as the failure to protect freedom of religion, illustrates the country’s dismal approach to human rights, said the senators. “We recognize that managing the U.S.-China relationship is an enormous and complex task,” said the letter (here). “We firmly believe that a full and frank discussion of our concerns regarding human rights and civil society in China would serve to strengthen our relationship.”
Several House Democrats lashed into China’s decision to devalue its currency in statements on Aug. 11. Earlier in the day, the Chinese Central Bank depreciated the value of the renminbi earlier by roughly two percentage points against the U.S. dollar (see 1508110022). While some consider the change to be part of aneffort to move the renminbi closer to market value (here), the devaluation falls in line with a long Chinese track record on market intervention, House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in a statement (here). “There is reason to be skeptical of believing that the largest devaluation of the Chinese currency in over two decades is merely about moving to a market-based exchange rate,” said Levin “This action highlights the need to include a strong and effective obligation on currency manipulation in [the Trans-Pacific Partnership], and to include a provision to impose countervailing duties to address currency manipulation in the Customs legislation that is expected to be negotiated in a House-Senate conference in September.”
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
The South African government and poultry industry must still take “several actions” to implement a recent deal to end antidumping duties on U.S. poultry, said Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Chris Coons, D-Del., on Aug. 7. The two lawmakers issued a statement following the public hearing portion of the U.S. Trade Representative’s out-of-cycle review of South African beneficiary status in the African Growth and Opportunity Act. “We will continue to work with USTR to ensure those requirements are met,” said the statement, noting the AD duties have virtually cut U.S. exporters out of that market (here). In comments before the hearing, U.S. poultry producers warned South Africa against falling short on the deal, saying U.S. industry is waiting to see actual exports of their products into South Africa (see 1508070021). The two countries brokered the agreement in Paris in June (see 1506050062). South Africa will cut duties on 65,000 metric tons of U.S. poultry exports, said U.S. industry during the review.
House and Senate lawmakers will reconvene in September with the aim of striking a compromise on a multi-year highway and infrastructure funding bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters on Aug. 6. McConnell and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., struck a compromise to move forward with the Senate’s six-year legislation, and lawmakers in that chamber passed the bill on July 30 (see 1507300052). House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., must now collaborate to pass a similar bill, McConnell said.