Freshman member of Congress Rep. Gwen Graham, D-Fla., introduced legislation in late March to extend apparel and fabric tariff preference levels in the U.S.-Bahrain free trade agreement for an additional 10 years. The TPLs are currently set to expire over the coming months. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., also signed onto the bill, HR-1696 (here). The bill is among several recent pieces of legislation that could eventually be part of a trade legislation package (see 1502030059). The National Council of Textile Organizations strongly opposes TPLs as part of a Trade Promotion Authority-led package (see 1503260001).
Congress wants to rally behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership, although “concerns” remain, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a statement following a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Pelosi’s Democrat-led delegation to several Asian countries. "All of our Members want to be a ‘Yes,’" said Pelosi in the statement (here). "We want a road to ‘Yes,’ a path to ‘Yes.'” Abe is scheduled to visit the White House and deliver a speech to Congress at the end of April (see 1503280002). The Senate Finance Committee may mark up Trade Promotion Authority, widely viewed as critical to locking down TPP implementation, in the days before Abe's visit (see 1503310017).
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., pledged to move forward with a markup on his Iran nuclear deal oversight bill in the coming days, after the U.S. and several other global powers struck a tentative accord with Iran on its long-term nuclear development on April 2. As previously planned, the committee will still debate and amend on April 14 his bill to require congressional approval on a final Iran nuclear accord, his office said in a Twitter post. Corker first scheduled the markup in March (see 1503230020). The chamber returns from recess on April 13.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker dug in to defend the administration’s policy of using re-exports in both import and export trade statistics on April 1 in a letter to Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., one of the biggest trade critics on Capitol Hill. The letter is a response to a DeLauro inquiry. DeLauro has often criticized USTR for distorting trade statistics to sell the Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 14051215).
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka again slammed Trade Promotion Authority, referred to as fast-track by critics, in an April 2 op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer, saying rejection of the legislation would give Congress and the American people a “fighting chance” to discard harmful provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Complete transparency in the negotiating process, including disclosure of TPP text, would allow Congress to strengthen labor and environmental rules, remove the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism and put in currency manipulation provisions, said Trumka in the op-ed (here). “Every single line in our trade deals should be openly discussed and subject to public oversight and the full legislative process,” said Trumka, while repeating an argument that U.S. trade deals only serve corporate interests. “Fast-track is undemocratic, it's a rotten process, and the American labor movement intends to kill it.” The TPA template in place, based on legislation introduced last Congress (see 14011013), would prevent amendments and require an up-or-down vote in both chambers of Congress. The American labor movement has aggressively ramped up its opposition to the Obama administration's trade agenda (see 1503250072).
The Seattle City Council "is positioning itself against a better future" after adopting a resolution against Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership in recent days, said three Republican House members of the Washington congressional delegation. Members Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and Dan Newhouse signed onto the statement (here). "As one of the most trade-dependent states in the nation, the negotiation of high-standard, comprehensive trade agreements – like TPP – is critical to Washington state’s growth and economic success," said the statement. No Democrats joined in, and Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler was also absent. Beutler's office didn't respond for comment.
Members of Trans-Pacific Partnership talks haven’t yet reached consensus on environmental rules, and failure to strike a deal on tough, enforceable standards will make regulation among TPP parties “more difficult to strengthen in the future,” said House Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in a March 31 blog (here). The TPP negotiations need to make real progress to tackle illegal logging in Peru, and illicit fishing in Malaysia and Singapore, among other areas, said Levin.
Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced legislation in recent days to better equip CBP in tackling counterfeit textile imports, the two lawmakers said in a release (here). The Textile Enforcement and Security Act, S-892, isn’t yet publicly available. According to the release, however, the bill would require seizure of textile and apparel imports with unverified or falsified country of origin. The legislation would require “CBP to use the fines collected from textile and apparel import violations to pay for training of specialists in textile and apparel enforcement,” said the release, alongside several other mandates in the bill. The legislation failed to advance in the last Congress (see 13112220).
The Finance Committee is set to consider African Growth and Opportunity Act renewal "in the next month," and the U.S. and South Africa need to "urgently" strike a deal to address antidumping duties on U.S. poultry, said a bipartisan group of senators in a March 31 letter to the South African trade minister and a special envoy for the preference program (here). Some trade observers expect AGOA to move in April alongside Trade Promotion Authority and several other trade bills, including renewal for the Generalized System of Preferences (see 1503310017).
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update: