Senate Republicans want to prevent amendments to Trade Promotion Authority during floor consideration in order to ensure both House counterparts and Trans-Pacific Partnership countries accept the legislation, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch-R-Utah, on April 29. Quick TPA passage could lead U.S. negotiators to close a deal with TPP parties at some point in 2015, he said at a Politico event.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for “sweeping” structural reform in his country’s agricultural sector, but stopped short of announcing a breakthrough in U.S.-Japanese talks in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations during an April 29 speech to Congress. The U.S. and Japan must lead the TPP to a successful conclusion based on “shared values” of democracy, freedom and economic prosperity, he said. Abe stressed the TPP should fight back against poor labor conditions, environmental regulations and intellectual property infringement in the Asia-Pacific, while also pointing to the U.S.-Japanese security incentives in TPP. The day before, Abe and President Barack Obama delivered similar calls to wrap up TPP talks quickly (here).
Antidumping and countervailing duty evasion language in the Senate customs reauthorization legislation would "expose U.S. importers to unpredictable and potentially devastating financial liability," said the International Wood Products Association. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, led the effort to incorporate the AD/CV provision into the customs legislation. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Ohio, included the provision in his modified version of the Customs Reauthorization legislation prior to the committee's April 22 markup. The language would make it easier for the Commerce Department to apply penalty “adverse facts available” rates in antidumping investigations. The measure would also require importers to pay cash deposits, instead of bonds, during new shipper reviews, and would penalize importers for failing to provide certificates, such as those pertaining to country of origin (see 1504080013).
Trade legislation is next up on the Senate floor agenda, following more debate on the Iran sanctions oversight bill, said the office of Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, on April 24. The notice didn't provide further details, but said the body will continue to debate an Iran measure on April 27. The Senate is also aiming to tackle nominations in the coming days, said Cornyn's office. The Senate Finance Committee approved four trade bills on April 22 (see 1504230001).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., reintroduced in recent days legislation that would remove Lacey Act provisions making violations of foreign law illegal. The Freedom from Over-Criminalization and Unjust Seizures (FOCUS) Act, S-1019, would also remove criminal penalties in the law, and instead put in place “a reasonable civil penalty system,” said Paul’s office in a statement (here), with penalties of up to $200,000. The bill also confirms “all fish, wildlife, or plants imported, exported, transported, sold, received, acquired, or purchased in violation” of the Lacey Act would be subject to forfeiture. Both lawmakers last introduced the legislation 2012.
The Senate will likely again take up an amendment withdrawn in committee to terminate South Africa from the African Growth and Opportunity Act after three years, said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., at a Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on April 23. The amendment had been withdrawn in favor of another amendment approved requiring the U.S. Trade Representative conduct an AGOA out-of-cycle review of South Africa. However, the Senate will still consider the three-year removal of South Africa once the Finance Committee-approved preference package hits the Senate floor, said Coons.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
The passage of Trade Promotion Authority, and the “non-binding” negotiating objectives it outlines, will have a “meaningless” impact on proposals in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, in light of the expected completion of TPP talks in the near future, said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in an April 22 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (here). Sanders invoked a rarely-used Senate rule on the same day to interrupt and postpone the Finance Committee’s markup of four trade bills, including TPA (see 1504220020). The committee resumed the markup later in the day, and ultimately passed all four bills. Sanders asked Froman for “timely” responses to the following questions:
The Senate Finance Committee amended and sent to the Senate floor all four major trade bills during an April 22 markup. Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Customs Reauthorization and a preference package that contains renewals for the Generalized System of Preferences and the African Growth and Opportunity Act were all approved with decisive margins. Among the new provisions added as amendments are a temporary extension of an increase to the Merchandise Processing Fee, Miscellaneous Tariff Bill reform legislation, and tariff changes for performance outwear and athletic footwear.
More than 50 conservative organizations called on Congress to allow the Export-Import Bank to expire in an April 21 letter to members in both chambers (here). The credit agency faces a June 30 authorization cutoff. Those organizations include several influential public policy groups, such as Heritage Action, the Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Tax Reform. The bank damages domestic companies and favors big business, said the letter. “Eliminating the Export-Import Bank would level the playing field and allow U.S. companies to compete for business on their merits rather than the strength of their political ties to the bank,” said the letter. “America deserves an international trade policy that is based on free-market mechanisms, not paying foreign companies to buy exports from large corporations with political connections.” Conservative groups have long-called on Congress to get rid of the credit agency, and allies on Capitol Hill have battled to remove it (see 1503190052). Industry groups, such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce, routinely call for the credit agency’s extension (see 1502200006).