Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., a member of the conference committee for the China package, said he has not talked to Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del, about his new bill to pair trade adjustment assistance renewal and a limited trade promotion authority for a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom. But, Kildee said, "I think trade adjustment is so important, I'm willing to put it on any train that will leave the station and reach Biden's desk." Kildee added that he would be cautious about agreeing to take TAA out of the China package. "But I would have to have a lot of certainty that this was not an off ramp, but an on ramp," he said.
House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and ranking member Adrian Smith, R-Neb., are co-sponsors of a bill that would suspend tariffs on imported formula from Germany, Switzerland and England through Nov. 14.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and nine other Republicans told President Joe Biden that he made a mistake by temporarily preventing antidumping and countervailing duties from taking effect is if the Commerce Department determines they are warranted in an anti-circumvention inquiry on imported Asian solar panels.
A recently introduced House bill with bipartisan support would place more restrictions on certain imports from Russia. The Expanding Trade Sanctions on Russia Act, introduced last week by Reps. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Tom Rice, R-S.C., would place a ban on all imports from Russia with more than $50 million in 2021 import value, the lawmakers said. If it becomes law, the restrictions would take effect 15 days after the bill's enactment, and would allow the president to waive the embargo for a “specific product” if the president determines the waiver is in the “national interest of the United States.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said that he wants to get the conference negotiations done for the China package, because the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) has "some important trade aspects."
A new bill directs the administration to open a Section 301 investigation "to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of the People's Republic of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, or innovation with respect to rare earth metal mining, separation, metallization, alloying, or magnet manufacturing, or related processes, are acts, policies, and practices" are damaging enough to the U.S. economy that they necessitate "trade enforcement actions to deter the Government of the People's Republic of China from further interference in the rare earth metals market."
The June 13 passing of bill that aims to force shipping companies to accept U.S. exports on the return trip to Asia, and which further codifies Federal Maritime Commission's attempts to police detention and demurrage charges, was hailed by politicians as an inflation solution and greeted with caution by industry players.
President Joe Biden, speaking at the Port of Los Angeles, praised the collaborative work of port officials and workers and the government to break through logjams, and partly blamed foreign-owned shipping companies for rising prices.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., who's been a defender of trade liberalization, introduced a bill that requires the Treasury Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the International Trade Commission to assess whether the Section 301 tariffs, Section 232 tariffs, safeguard tariffs and the expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program have contributed to inflation.
The House passed the Food and Drug Amendments of 2022 on June 8 on a 392-28 vote. The bill, which addresses user fees for drugs, generic drugs, biosimilars and devices, also includes provisions on FDA inspections of drug and device facilities. Among other things, it would provide in law for an FDA pilot program on unannounced foreign facility inspections. FDA has said it will begin such a pilot for facilities in China and India in 2022 (see 2202090025).