Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., voiced concerns with Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership at the outset of Senate debate on TPA legislation on May 18, but stopped short of pledging opposition. Sessions has emerged in recent weeks as the most aggressive Republican critic of status quo U.S. trade policy in the chamber. The TPP threatens to damage U.S. manufacturing and worsen the country’s trade deficit without adequately addressing currency manipulation, Sessions said on the Senate floor, echoing a statement he released in early May (see 1505040066).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged again to pass Trade Promotion Authority before Memorial Day recess, but warned senators against making travel plans to leave Washington until the “path forward becomes clear” on TPA. “The Senate will finish its work on trade this week, and we will remain in session as long as it takes to do so,” said McConnell on the Senate floor on May 18. The recess extends to June 1 for both the House and Senate.
The House will pass its Customs Reauthorization legislation in the coming weeks, and then the two chambers will convene a legislative conference to reconcile differences, House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said on May 18, along with Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. in a joint statement. The lawmakers, the three architects of Trade Promotion Authority legislation moving through both chambers, said they struck an agreement with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to send a compromise bill to President Barack Obama “by the end of June.” The conference will launch “immediately after the House passes its enforcement bill.” There are significant differences between the two bills, HR-1907 (here) and the Senate-passed HR-644 (here). Leadership in both chambers didn’t respond for comment. A spokesman for Ryan deferred to Boehner’s office on more details on a potential conference. One Senate aide said it is likely both Hatch and Wyden will represent the Senate as conferees.
Apparel and footwear importers urged House lawmakers to immediately take up legislation to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act, following the Senate passage of AGOA renewal on May 14. The Senate decisively passed the legislation as part of a preference package that includes renewals for the Generalized System of Preferences and two Haiti tariff preference level programs (see 1505140029). “AGOA must be renewed as soon as possible. Because sourcing decisions are made many months in advance, any delay in passage will discourage continued sourcing and new investment, and will result in the loss of trade and jobs in both Africa and the U.S.,” said the letter (here). “These sourcing decisions are actually happening now as Congress is set to vote on the extension.”
The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (here) on May 15, and the legislation includes an amendment to keep in place current thresholds for government procurement of apparel, cotton products and other manufactured products. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., introduced the provision, and it passed by voice vote as part of a bloc of amendments.
The Senate will pass Trade Promotion Authority and Trade Adjustment Assistance before the chamber leaves Washington on May 22 for Memorial Day recess, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on May 17. “This is a six-year trade promotion authority bill that will give the next president an opportunity to enter into additional trade agreements with other countries around the world,” said McConnell on ABC’s This Week. “We know America is a big winner when we lower barriers to our products abroad.” McConnell praised President Barack Obama for his drive to lock down TPA. McConnell also applauded productivity in the Senate since he took the reins of the chamber in January. Following the procedural vote to open debate on TPA on May 14, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he was unsure if the Senate will pass TPA before the rapidly approaching recess (see 1505150021). The chamber will open debate on TPA on May 18, and vote on two amendments to the legislation, one on TAA and the other on a religious freedom provision, the office of Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.
U.S. and South African poultry industries are “talking seriously” and edging closer to a deal to open the South African market for more U.S. exports, said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., on May 14. Isakson and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., have threatened to amend trade legislation to terminate South African status as an African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiary after three years if South African industry doesn’t concede more access. The two lawmakers have for months railed against antidumping duties on U.S. exports. “We don’t have a deal yet but we’re getting closer,” said Isakson in an interview. “Having the stick is better than using the stick. I’d rather still have the carrot of working together.” The Senate overwhelmingly passed the preference package, which includes AGOA renewal, on May 14 (see 1505140029).
The Senate Customs Reauthorization legislation is only a “piecemeal” approach to strengthening U.S. trade remedy law, and the bill could hamper U.S. industry and CBP’s ability to monitor U.S. imports, said a group of importers in a recent letter to the House Ways and Means Committee. The American Apparel and Footwear Association, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and the International Wood Products Association, among others, signed onto the letter.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update: