U.S. agriculture producers hit back at a congressional draft plan to revise country-of-origin labeling law to give voluntary authority to label meat muscle cuts during a Senate Agriculture Committee COOL hearing on June 25, arguing the new approach would put the U.S. at risk of costly retaliatory tariffs in the coming months. Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., floated the draft proposal the day before (here).
Repeal of country-of-origin labeling law is the "only solution" for the U.S. to avert Canadian and Mexican retaliation, said Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, two days before a heavily-anticipated hearing on the issue. The World Trade Organization gave the go-ahead on June 17 for the U.S. and Canada to begin another round of arbitration, in a step which brings the WTO closer to approval of retaliatory tariffs (see 1506170045).
The House overwhelmingly passed legislation 398-1 to update the Toxic Substance Control Act on June 23. The TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 (here), spearheaded by Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., passed decisively through the House Energy and Commerce committee in early June (see 1506030022). The legislation would require a new “risk evaluation” procedure in the Environmental Protection Agency chemical review process, and would give EPA authority to make final decisions on chemicals that supersede state regulations. The Senate Environment Committee approved a different TSCA modernization bill in late April (see 1504300027). That bill is ready for Senate floor consideration, but leadership hasn't yet pushed forward to pass the measure.
The House-preferred measure to address CBP’s strategy on duty evasion, the PROTECT Act, should serve as the “bedrock” of Customs Reauthorization this Congress, said trade associations including customs brokers, retailers, and importers in a recent letter to Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La. (here). Boustany introduced the legislation in past sessions of Congress (see 12121035).
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
U.S. traders and port operators urged the Senate Commerce Committee to move forward on the Port Transparency Act, S-1298 (here), in letters to committee leadership in recent days. The legislation would establish a set of port performance reporting requirements in order to prevent port shutdowns and slowdowns. The bill would also direct the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to create a performance program, and require the Transportation Department to report to Congress on conditions at U.S. ports before and after port labor agreements expire.
The Senate Agriculture Committee is bringing in only domestic agricultural groups to testify before the June 25 hearing on country-of-origin labeling, the committee said on June 22 (here). North American Meat Institute Chief Executive Officer Barry Carpenter, Executive Officer at the U.S. Cattlemen's Association Leo McDonnell and several others are scheduled to give testimony. Industry Representatives expect Canadian and Mexican retaliation over the COOL dispute at the World Trade Organization to hit both agriculture and manufacturing. The Canadians, who are now in arbitration with the U.S. 1506170045), are likely to “target beef, pork, California wines, mattresses, cherries and office furniture, possibly along with other goods,” Reuters recently reported (see 1506100067). The House repealed COOL on June 10, but no legislation has so far surfaced in the Senate.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a Finance Committee member and one of the fiercest trade critics in the Senate, aims to support the trade preferences package in a vote expected this week, said a spokeswoman for Brown on June 22. The package now includes Trade Adjustment Assistance and a trade remedy bill, on top of renewals for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preferences and two Haiti tariff preference level programs. Brown floated the trade remedy bill, named the Leveling the Playing Field Act, in April (see 1504080013). The legislation is designed to strengthen antidumping enforcement. "Senator Brown intends to support the trade preferences package with or without his Leveling the Playing Field act included," said the spokeswoman. "He’s always preferred putting assistance for American workers ahead of fast tracking trade deals that could cost jobs."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., launched the legislative process on June 23 to give approval for a conference on Customs Reauthorization with the House, McConnell said on the Senate floor. The conference isn't likely to tackle differences on trade remedy antidumping legislation after McConnell tacked the Senate's Leveling the Playing Field Act onto the trade preference package. The two sides are still poised, however, to try to reconcile differences over the PROTECT and ENFORCE Act, two provisions that deal with CBP investigations into duty evasion claims. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., vowed in mid-May to send President Barack Obama a compromise Customs Reauthorization bill by the end of June (see 1505200025). McConnell's move toward conference, which involves filing cloture, prepares a cloture vote on the customs conference following passage of the preference package in the coming days, said Senate Democratic leadership on June 23. The Senate's HR-644 (here) and the House measure (here) share a range of similarities, such as a de minimis increase to $800.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bill since International Trade Today's last legislative update: