EGA Resolution Introduced, No Vote Likely
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, and outgoing New Democrats Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced a resolution that asks the U.S. trade representative to re-launch negotiations at the World Trade Organization to liberalize trade in environmental goods.
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The WTO tried to reach an environmental goods agreement, and countries had agreed to lower or eliminate tariffs on 54 products, but talks floundered in 2016 (see 2210180006).
They issued a statement that said: "Promoting trade in environmental products, especially with countries with market-based economies and high labor and environmental standards, would boost American export opportunities, reduce global emissions, and help level the playing field for American workers."
The previous EGA did not just include market economies, as China was part of the negotiations. Sen. Rob Portman, former USTR and now the Republican senator from Ohio, has said the WTO should reopen the negotiations as a plurilateral, allowing the benefits only to countries that are in the agreement.
DelBene and Brady said WTO delegations should update the list of 303 products that were under consideration in the past negotiation, and they said that the U.S. should ask trading partners "to take immediate action to remove barriers to environmental good imports from the United States."
"Despite our technological and quality edge, the United States lags behind China and the EU in exports of environmental goods, in part due to tariffs and other barriers countries impose," the two said.
In a press conference Dec. 14, Brady said he and DelBene introduced the resolution that day because they had been working on it for a while, but said it will need to be reintroduced next year, because there is no time for a vote before the end of this Congress.
He told International Trade Today that he'd been raising the issue with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for quite some time. "I really think it is a crucial step on reducing greenhouse gases around the world. I would try to lower that price for the world just as much as we can."