One Democrat and one Republican from each chamber sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, asking the administration to reexamine the decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017, a decision they called “misguided and short-sighted.” The May 5 letter, led by Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, a close ally to President Joe Biden, also acknowledged that “there are significant political obstacles to negotiating an agreement to rejoin the TPP in its current form.” But Carper, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said there should be an effort to determine the best course for engagement with the countries that continued on without the U.S. to see how they could build on recent trade agreements.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will testify on the administration's trade policy agenda next week, appearing May 12 at 9:30 a.m. before the Senate Finance Committee and May 13 at 10 a.m. before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., joined by three Democrats and two Republicans, introduced a bill in March that asks the administration to develop a strategy to increase exports to African countries by 200% in real dollars within 10 years of the bill's passage into law. The bill's text was published May 1. To achieve this goal, the bill suggests the administration help U.S. businesses with expertise in energy, infrastructure, telecommunications, technology and agriculture develop relationships with African governments. It also said the U.S. should promote economic integration in Africa, including the development of customs unions between western and central Africa and eastern and southern Africa “eliminating time-consuming border formalities into and within these areas, and supporting regionally based infrastructure projects.”

As U.S.-China technology competition grows, Congress may consider mandating stronger export controls over U.S. research and semiconductor equipment, the Congressional Research Service said in a report this month. Congress might consider “assessing” whether Chinese efforts to target U.S. research and development capabilities “merits additional government oversight and controls over U.S. basic and applied research,” the report said. Congress might also consider more restrictions over “technical expertise that U.S. industry shares with China over open source technology platforms” and more controls over exports of semiconductor equipment, tools and software. The Commerce Department is reviewing candidate controls for its emerging and foundational technology process (see 2103190037) and has received pushback from universities that are concerned those controls could restrict fundamental research (see 2012020044).

Two senators reintroduced a bill this month that would require the U.S. to conduct a study on the effects of foreign direct investment on the U.S. pharmaceuticals industry. The U.S. Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Review Act, reintroduced by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., would require the Treasury Department to provide a report to Congress on how foreign direct investment “affects the nation's ability to produce drugs, as well as their key components.” It would also require a report about how foreign investment in “U.S. genome sequencing technologies affects domestic capacity to sequence or store DNA” and the number of transactions that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has reviewed in the last year involving the “sequencing or storage of DNA.”

The U.S. should lead the charge to reopen the Environmental Goods Agreement in Geneva, House Ways and Means Republicans wrote April 22, on Earth Day. This follows a resolution introduced earlier in the month by four pro-trade Democrats calling for the same thing (see 2104080050).

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill that would require President Joe Biden to determine whether certain companies are eligible for sanctions for helping to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline (see 2104160022). The Ukraine Security Partnership Act, approved April 21, names Nord Stream 2 AG and 19 other companies, all of which could be designated under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act. Sen. Cruz, R-Texas, introduced the provision as an amendment to the act. The measure will remove “any hope” from the companies that they can avoid accountability for working on the Russian gas project,” Cruz said in a statement. He also directed a tweet to companies involved in Nord Stream 2: "the United States knows who you are, and if you don't get out immediately you will be sanctioned.” The bill, which would also authorize Ukraine to receive “expedited excess defense article transfers” and calls for more U.S. support in the region, will now head to the Senate floor.

Clete Willems, a former Donald Trump administration trade staffer, told the Senate Finance Committee that technology sales to China help pay for research and development here, so as Congress considers how to bolster the semiconductor industry, it should also be sure not to put export controls on goods that are not sensitive.

The U.S. and Congress should impose more sanctions on the Russian financial sector if the government doesn’t release political opposition leader Alexei Navalny from prison, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said. Speaking during an April 21 Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting, Menendez, the committee chairman, said Russia should immediately provide Navalny with medical care after reports of his deteriorating health surfaced this week. If Russia doesn't act, he said, the U.S. should add to Russian sanctions and export controls announced by the Commerce and State departments last month (see 2103170022 and 2103020067). “We must be perfectly clear that if he is not afforded this care, we are prepared to impose sanctions not only on individuals, but on the Russian banking and financial sector,” Menendez said.

A bill that aims “to protect American businesses and government institutions from attacks designed to steal sensitive information” was introduced April 21 by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., his office announced. The Combating Chinese Purloining (CCP) of Trade Secrets Act would expand penalties for companies, business associations or individuals who misappropriate trade secrets, the press release said. The penalties mentioned include “import restrictions,” denial of export licenses, visa denials and a prohibition on applications for patent protection. The text of the bill is not yet available.