Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
A top Justice Department official called on Congress to pass laws that toughen penalties for wildlife traffickers, during a panel discussion at the District of Columbia Bar Association on May 7. Bob Dreher, acting assistant attorney general-Environment and Natural Resources Division at DOJ, said the agency is working hard to fight wildlife trafficking, including by vigorous enforcement, training and capacity building in foreign countries, and implementation of the Obama administration’s National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking (see 14021126). But Congress can give it more tools by strengthening existing laws and adopting new legislation, said Dreher.
The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act of 2014 falls short of ensuring internet-related service and goods trade is sufficiently protected, said Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Jared Polis, D-Colo. and five other lawmakers in a letter submitted to House Ways and Means and Senate Finance leadership on May 6. The legislation, the most recent iteration of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) introduced in both chambers in January, mandates U.S. trade agreements include intellectual property protection “similar” to U.S. law (see 14030520). But the legislation fails to emphasize the "vision of the importance of the internet throughout its provisions,“ said the letter. “In addition to ensuring that these provisions of our law are exported, we encourage you to include specific language directing negotiators to export copyright limitations, exceptions and safe harbors, which enable online business and the Internet community to thrive.” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently vowed to propose alternate TPA legislation (see 14040919). His office did not immediately respond for comment on the its copyright provisions.
The Senate Finance Committee will consider the nomination of Stefan Selig as Commerce Department under secretary for international trade during a May 8 hearing, the committee announced on May 6. The committee added Selig to a list of other administration nominations up for consideration at the hearing, including Darci Vetter as chief agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (see 14050221). President Barack Obama announced Selig's nomination in November 2013 (see 13110821).
The Obama administration should continue to impose “narrow” sanctions on individuals and firms in Russian financial, energy and defense sectors, said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., in opening remarks at a May 6 hearing on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. The administration should specifically target energy exporting companies Rosneft and Gazprom, who have manipulated Ukrainian energy price and supply, and weapons exporter Rosoboron, added Menendez.
The Highway Trust Fund requires $100 billion to maintain solvency over the next years, the timeframe needed to allocate infrastructure responsibility to states, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., at an May 6 committee hearing on the fund. The fund is critical to improving American roads, bridges and other infrastructure, to stay commercially competitive with foreign nations, said Wyden. “By any calculus, our investments in infrastructure lag way behind our competitors’. China, for example, invests 8.5 percent of its GDP in infrastructure, and in some parts of Canada, they’re investing 10 percent,” said Wyden (here). “The U.S. invests only 1.7 percent. No American can be happy with the prospect that it’s easier to move goods from a Chinese factory to a Chinese port than from an American factory to an American port. That’s what’s at risk.”
The reauthorization of the Export-Import bank charter is necessary in order to stay competitive with Brazilian and Chinese state credit agencies that provide nearly half of all official export financing, said former Sens. George Allen and Blanche Lincoln in a May 5 National Association of Manufacturers blog post. The bank will also provide a critical mechanism to revitalize the sluggish U.S. economy, said the former lawmakers, while dismissing the common criticism that the credit agency meddles with the free market.
The Export-Import Bank favors “large, politically connected” firms at the expense of small and medium sized businesses by providing unfair access to foreign markets, said 30 organizations, including Americans for Tax Reform and FreedomWorks, in a May 1 letter to members of Congress. As expiration of the bank’s charter looms at the end of fiscal year 2014, lawmakers should oppose reauthorization, said the organizations. “Not only does the Export-Import bank interfere with the free market, it also jeopardizes billions of taxpayer dollars,” said the letter. “According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bank relies on obsolete accounting methods that significantly overstate its profits.” Ex-Im reauthorization has sparked a partisan fight in recent weeks and months, although House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, supports renewal (see 14042903). Bank President Fred Hochberg claims the official U.S. credit agency profited $1.057 billion in fiscal year 2013 (see 14032526).
The expiration of a tariff preference program that allows the Nicaraguan apparel industry to incorporate 50 percent foreign fabric and still export to the U.S. duty-free will hurt U.S. jobs, businesses and consumers, said Rick Helfenbein, chairman of the board of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, in a Sourcing Journal Online op-ed. The program, due to run its course at the end of 2014 after 10 years in effect, allows Nicaragua to match U.S. fabric with fabric sourced elsewhere. The expiration will severely disrupt supply chains that have taken years and significant capital to shape, said Helfenbein.
Footwear Duties Continue to Skyrocket, Tariff Elimination Legislation Necessary, Says FDRA in Report
U.S. import duties on children’s footwear continue to increase, building off a 53 percent rise since 2010, said the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) in a report released on May 2. The Affordable Footwear Act would counteract skyrocketing costs to American importers and consumers by eliminating $800 million in duties for lower-priced children’s footwear, along with outdoor and some athletic shoes, said FDRA. A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the legislation in 2013, and Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently expressed support (see 14040919).