Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., recently introduced a bill that would require the secretary of state to develop a strategy to reduce reliance on single foreign countries for critical goods and to encourage manufacturing of computer hardware, communications technology, biotechnology, semiconductors, batteries, aerospace metals and parts, polysilicon destined for solar panels and more to be done in the Western Hemisphere or the U.S. The bill said if a good critical to national or economic security is majority imported, and if 30% of those imports come from a single foreign country, the government should develop a strategy to encourage diversification. Kinzinger said the Allies Strengthening Economies And Manufacturing (Allies SEAM) Act would "bolster national security, prevent future disruptions to our economy, and provide good-paying jobs in the United States."
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America told its members that the law that spares brokers' pass-through payments of tariffs from bankruptcy claw-backs won't expire at the end of the year, as originally planned. It said that Congress is expected to pass a three-month extension of several bankruptcy provisions, including what NCBFAA calls the Customs Business Fairness Act. “We need to push now more than ever to get co-sponsors for the CBFA bill to show support for a permanent solution,” NCBFAA legislative counsel Nicole Bivens Collinson said.
Rep. Karen Bass, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's subcommittee that covers Africa, announced Dec.15 that she is urging the Biden administration to change course on suspending Ethiopia from the African Growth and Opportunity Act. That suspension would take effect on Jan. 1, and is because of human rights abuses of the government during the civil conflict in that country. "Suspension of AGOA will reverse economic gains that have been hard won by the people of Ethiopia and American investors, and exacerbate the circumstances of the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including women and children. I urge the Administration to allow time for all parties in Ethiopia to take the necessary steps to end this conflict, deploy humanitarian aid to those who need it, and continue negotiations to garner peace," she said. "The abrupt timeline of January 1, 2022, will adversely impact citizens without necessarily altering the pace of progress.”
The ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee said Congress should take into consideration how an electric vehicle subsidy limited to American-assembled vehicles affects the trading relationships in North America, but Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, acknowledged that Republicans' views on the Build Back Better bill are irrelevant, since none of them plan to vote for it. The House version of Build Back Better gives a richer purchase incentive for U.S.-made cars from union plants, and for U.S.-origin batteries, and then limits the tax credit to U.S.-assembled cars starting in 2027.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., introduced a bill that would require CBP to pay interest on distributions of antidumping duties and countervailing duties to injured parties under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), for entries that were made before Sept. 30, 2007. According to a press release from Panetta, garlic growers are owed $10.5 million for distributions that were too low between 2000 and 2014. Under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA), interest was paid on distributions of payments made after Oct. 1, 2014, in connection with "a customs bond pursuant to a court order or judgment; or a settlement with respect to a customs bond, including any payment made to U.S. Customs and Border Protection with respect to that bond by a surety."
John Butler, CEO of the World Shipping Council, said ocean carriers are getting mixed messages from the White House, which is encouraging carriers and ports to rev up their leverage on buyers and freight forwarders so that they pick up their cargo promptly, and from Congress. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on an Ocean Shipping Reform Act that would give the Federal Maritime Commission more authority to punish players for unreasonable demurrage charges -- the same fees used as leverage.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., joined by six other Republicans, introduced a bill that would open a CBP preclearance facility in Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport. A companion bill is going to be introduced in the House by Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., he said. The Taiwan Preclearance Act would create the first preclearance facility in Asia. Currently, there are agricultural specialists and CBP officers at preclearance sites in Ireland, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the United Arab Emirates and Canada. “Taiwan is a leading democracy, a vital partner of the United States, and the perfect place for America’s first preclearance facility in the Indo-Pacific,” Hawley said. “The Taiwan Preclearance Act sets us on a path to establish just such a facility, which will not only benefit the American people, but also strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations as we work together to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America urged its members to share information about where their employees work, and to make calls to their representatives so that a temporary change to bankruptcy law that benefits brokers does not expire at the end of the year. The group "had several calls over the last couple weeks to rally congressional members to support" the Customs Business Fairness Act, Legislative Committee Chair Laurie Arnold said. “The overwhelming comment we receive during these conversations is ‘how many constituents are in my district that this would help?’ It is very difficult for us to give a good answer since we don’t have a complete list from our members.” This year, if an importer declares bankruptcy, the duties that brokers passed through to CBP in the 90 days before the bankruptcy filing are not subject to clawback. But if the provision expires, NCBFAA says, "We are left in the middle holding the bag and potentially on the line to hand over millions of dollars, depending on the size of the importer, to the bankruptcy trustee." The group lobbied for more than 20 years to get this change, "and we now have it," they wrote in an advisory to members. "Don’t let it slip away!"
A textile preferences program slated to end in 2025 should be renewed for 10 years, legislation, the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP) Extension Act, introduced by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate says. Lead sponsors in the House are Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., and Rep Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., and in the Senate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
The title of the panel, "All Carrots and No Sticks: U.S. Climate Policy & Border Adjustment Mechanisms," revealed the main problem for a trade-rule compliant, administrable carbon border adjustment mechanism -- there is no national price on carbon in the U.S., and passing legislation to create one seems out of reach. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who participated in a panel hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the American Leadership Institute, said it's quite likely that in 10 years, all the major economic players, including China, could be ready to harmonize a price on carbon so that their manufacturers are on a level playing field. "I’m convinced this will happen over the course of the next decade but we don’t have time to wait for the next decade," he said.