Congress needs to pass Trade Promotion Authority in order to break down foreign trade barriers and boost U.S. exports, said Republican leadership on the Ways and Means Committee in a March 10 press release. Foreign “tariffs, quotas and red tape” disproportionately prevent small and medium-sized businesses from exporting, said the release. Smaller companies don’t have the capacity to handle problems with foreign customs officials. Those trade barriers also often result in “maddeningly slow customs procedures,” said the committee Republicans, led by chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Ways and Means Republicans have released a number of statements championing trade, and Ryan has repeatedly expressed support for TPA, but Congress still hasn’t docketed a TPA bill (see 1503090055).
Freshman Republican members of the House urged President Barack Obama to keep Trade Promotion Authority as an administration priority so Congress can pass a bill “early this year,” the group of 26 lawmakers said in a letter on March 6. Americans voted in 45 total new Republican House members in the 2014 mid-term elections. The TPA supporters only managed to garner a slim majority of the freshman GOP caucus, while none of the 15 new House Democrats signed the letter. “There is great potential in the negotiations now underway for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the Trade in Services Agreement, among other trade initiatives,” said the letter, led by Reps. Tom Emmer, Minn., and Mimi Walters, Calif.
The nation’s largest union, the AFL-CIO, along with its affiliated unions, are cutting off all Political Action Committee contributions to “federal candidates until further notice in order to conserve resources for the historic legislative battle around fast track (Trade Promotion Authority) and the debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” the organization said in a March 11 emailed statement. Shooting down TPA is a “top federal priority,” said the statement. The AFL-CIO is one of the fiercest opponents of the status quo U.S. trade agenda (see 1503030024). TPA hasn't yet surfaced this Congress, although many observers expected to see a bill in recent days and weeks.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bill since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
The Senate overwhelmingly approved on March 9 Daniel Marti to be the next intellectual property enforcement coordinator with a 92-0 vote in favor. Six Republican lawmakers didn’t vote, as well as two Democratic members. The chamber also endorsed by voice vote Michelle Lee to be under secretary of the Commerce Department for intellectual property and director of the Patent and Trademark Office. Several industry groups, including the Information Technology Industry Council, TechNet and the Motion Picture Association of America, applauded both confirmations in statements immediately following the March 9 votes.
U.S. free trade agreements are boosting jobs, increasing U.S. exports and manufacturing production, and slashing trade deficits, said the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah in a March 9 press release that draws economic analysis from various industry sources (here). The U.S. landed its current FTAs through Trade Promotion Authority, said the release. Congressional staffers and observers say Hatch wanted to introduce TPA over recent weeks, but a disagreement with Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has prevented that (see 1503040015). The release also points to a new Gallup poll that suggests most American “view trade as an opportunity to strengthen the American economy through increased U.S. exports,” said the Finance release. Compared to polling over the past two decades, more Americans now see trade as a way to boost the economy, said the poll analysis (here). “Opinion among the two party groups converged in 2014, but this year, Republicans' optimism about foreign trade is flat at 51 percent, while Democrats' has increased slightly, to 61 percent,” said the poll findings. “As the economy has improved significantly in the past year, it's likely that public fears about foreign trade have diminished, partly because of Americans' strengthening views of the U.S. economy.” The majority of Americans in both parties, including roughly 60 percent of Democrats, also support the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Gallup said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, still aims to add a recently-introduced trade enforcement bill onto Trade Promotion Authority, he told us on March 9. Brown introduced the Leveling the Playing Field Act in December (here). That bill would make it easier for the Commerce Department to apply “adverse facts available” in antidumping investigations, and would require importers to pay cash deposits, instead of bonds, during new shipper reviews. It would also penalize importers for failing to provide certificates, such as those pertaining to country of origin. “Through floor amendments or any place we can, we hope it’s part of the [TPA] agreement,” said Brown. “We’re working [the U.S. Trade Representative]. We’re working Department of Commerce. We’re working Wyden and Hatch.” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., haven’t yet struck a deal on Trade Promotion Authority, despite expectations that a bill would surface in recent weeks. Although Brown pledged to strengthen TPA through those antidumping measures, he said it’s unlikely he’ll support the underlying TPA bill. “All the evidence that’s in for 20 years since NAFTA shows stagnant wages, job loss, weaker environmental laws, weaker worker safety laws, weaker human rights laws,” Brown said. “So there’s no real evidence that these trade policies are working, so why do we want to do more?” Both Brown and Wyden want enforcement measures on TPA (see 1501130001).
The Senate is scheduled on March 9 to vote on the nomination of Daniel Marti to be the Obama administration’s intellectual property enforcement coordinator, Senate Republican leadership said. The chamber is also set to approve by voice vote Michelle Lee to be the next undersecretary of the Commerce Department for intellectual property. The Senate allows voice votes often for non-controversial nominations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., reversed course on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 on March 4, and pledged in comments on the Senate floor to instead move the legislation, S-615, through the committee process. McConnell previously scheduled a Senate floor vote on the legislation, but Democrats objected, including some of the bill’s co-sponsors (see 1503050007). “The actions we’ve taken would allow the sponsors of this sensible, bipartisan legislation to begin the debate next week,” said McConnell (here). “And it will allow for the Foreign Relations Committee to follow the regular order and debate and vote on the bill. And if the committee reports a bill, the committee bill will become the text that the full Senate debates. This is the regular order.” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised McConnell’s decision in a statement (here). The Obama administration faces a March 24 deadline to strike a tentative agreement with Iran on ongoing nuclear enrichment negotiations. The legislation would require congressional approval for any final pact with Iran, and would also put some constraints on sanctions relief.
The inclusion of currency rules in future U.S. free trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, would hamper U.S. monetary policy “to the detriment of all Americans,” said a group of former presidential economic advisors on March 5. “Monetary policy affects the value of currencies,” said the former officials, including former Federal Reserve chairmen Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan, in a letter to House and Senate leadership. “Attempts to penalize countries for supposedly manipulating exchange rates would thus impose constraints on U.S. monetary policy, to the detriment of all Americans.” Some House Democrats, namely Ways and Means ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., have recently sparred with the administration over currency rules in trade, saying the U.S. economy wouldn't be harmed (see 1502250015). The former advisors also called for Trade Promotion Authority in order to lock down free trade agreements that will boost U.S. productivity and give consumers cheaper access to goods. They admitted, however, some Americans suffer through trade pacts. “Trade is beneficial for our society as a whole, but the benefits are unevenly distributed and some people are negatively affected by increased global competition,” said the letter, according to a copy released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “The economy-wide benefits resulting from increased trade provide resources to make progress on important social goals, including helping those who are adversely affected.