The most recent reform measure for the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, introduced on April 16, aims to “garner the most fulsome support” on Capitol Hill for the underlying MTB, said a Senate aide close to the legislative process on April 20. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and a Portman spokeswoman said Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will also jump on board.
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a new Miscellaneous Tariff Bill process reform bill on April 16. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., introduced the legislation, but the text isn't yet available to the public. The measure, however, isn't expected to immediately move forward with the major trade package introduced on the same day, lawmakers indicated.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
The Government Accountability Office should look into the effects of the West Coast port disruptions that slowed down cargo movement and sent "ripples through the U.S. economy," Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said in a request letter to the GAO (here). Specifically, the agency should look into the implications of such disruptions for various industries in terms on transportation costs, inventory shortfalls or market share losses, she said. The GAO should also look at freight movement shifts to other regions due to the problems at West Coast ports and ability for West Coast port infrastructure to deal with future disruptions, she said. Fischer asked that the GAO complete and submit the report within 18 months.
Prominent House Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland pledged to oppose Trade Promotion Authority on April 14, saying the current legislative framework doesn’t do enough to boost congressional input in trade negotiations, according to a letter obtained by The Nation (here). The legislation will likely fail to ensure stronger Trans-Pacific Partnership rules on currency, the environment and labor, said Van Hollen in the letter to House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved on April 14 legislation to require congressional approval of a final Iran nuclear deal, following a committee markup on the same day. The committee revised the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, S-615, to force a 30-day review period for Congress once the Obama administration submits the text of a final agreement to lawmakers, committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said in a statement (here). The bill prohibits the removal of Iran sanctions until the process for legislative approval, which could ultimately take up to 52 days, is complete. Meanwhile, the State Department waived certain Iran sanctions until July 1 in a Federal Register notice (here). The U.S. and other global powers will need to act to prolong the sanctions relief after that date, said the notice.
Reps. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, and Ron Kind, D-Wis., re-introduced legislation on April 14 to scale back CBP authority to impose duties on bulk cargo residue. The Residue Entries and Streamlining Act, HR-1773, would amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to exempt residue from duty. The bill describes residue as material that remains in an instrument of international trade after bulk cargo is removed, but only material “with a quantity, by weight or volume, not exceeding seven percent of the bulk cargo, and with no or de minimis value.”
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
China, Japan, South Korea and other countries continue to manipulate their currencies on a consistent basis, and the “quiet diplomacy” approach to pressuring those countries to allow their currencies to reflect market value has so far failed, said House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in an April 13 blog post (here). The Treasury Department declined to label any country a currency manipulator in its most recent semi-annual report to Congress on currency (here). The report, nonetheless, said the Chinese renmenbi (RMB) “remains significantly undervalued.”
Congress should pass legislation to modernize the treatment of footwear in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule so that new and innovative types of athletic shoes aren’t hit with high duties on protective footwear, said a group of trade associations in an April 8 letter to Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee leadership (here). The simple addition of an internal membrane to athletic shoes should not change its HTS classification from sports and athletic footwear, dutiable at 20 percent, to protective footwear like fireman and rain boots, which carries a 37.5 percent duty, said the American Apparel & Footwear Association, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, Outdoor Industry Association and Sports & Fitness Industry Association in the joint letter.