Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., recently authored an opinion piece in The Washington Times calling for a "foreign pollution fee" to combat Chinese emissions. The fee would target imports, "like Chinese steel and chemicals, produced with lower environmental standards than cleaner American production," he said.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., has reintroduced a bill that would ban the importation of fresh citrus from China, beginning 90 days after passage. Text of the U.S. Citrus Protection Act was published April 18. It has no co-sponsors.
A staff report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says that Congress should consider that "current customs and tariff levels disproportionately benefit Chinese e-commerce firms," and that packages sent to U.S. consumers "are frequently not inspected. Those that are inspected are often subject to rudimentary visual checks without the technology or screening to trace fabric origin and other violations."
The chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, along with the lead sponsors of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, told Homeland Security Undersecretary Robert Silvers that they're concerned about the implementation of UFLPA, and that they intend to call Silvers to testify at a hearing in the near future, along with "a panel of experts on trade, labor trafficking, and supply chain mapping."
The Congressional Research Service described how the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system and the newer Aluminum Import Monitoring system have functioned in recent years. The report, published last week, noted that SIMA was updated in 2020 so that importers have to disclose where a semi-finished product or a finished steel product was melted and poured.
Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, introduced a bill that would terminate user fee requirements at certain airports by designating them as ports of entry. His bill is similar to one introduced last year by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that made the proposal for primary airports within 30 miles of a border (see 2208220048). The Gonzalez bill, which has no co-sponsors, was introduced March 27.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee passed the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) Pilot Program Act on an 11-1 vote March 29. The bipartisan bill would allow CBP to extend CTPAT to up to 20 third-party logistics providers, both asset-based and non-asset based (see 2303150074). Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Tom Carper, D-Del., are the co-sponsors of the bill.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's leaders have introduced a bill to add Ecuador to the list of beneficiaries of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, reducing tariffs on nearly 50% of Ecuador's exports to the U.S.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he sent a second round of letters to automakers and a round of letters to tier 1 suppliers about their ties to Xinjiang (see 2303280069) because he was disappointed by the tenor of the responses to his first round of letters in December.
Reps. John Garamendi, D-Calif., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., unveiled new legislation this week that they said will build on last year’s Ocean Shipping Reform Act (see 2303240068) by further expanding the Federal Maritime Commission's authority and “crack down” on China’s “attempts to influence America’s supply chain.” The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act, introduced March 29, would block U.S. ports from using Chinese state-sponsored logistics software, allow the FMC to investigate foreign shipping exchanges to “preempt improper business practices," authorize the commission to “streamline data standards” to aid maritime freight logistics and more.