Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said India will officially end its tariffs on American apples and pulse crops this week as part of an agreement the two countries reached in June (see 2306230038). The tariffs were placed on certain U.S. goods in retaliation for the Trump administration’s Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. “In removing these retaliatory tariffs, our apple growers can now accept orders from India and growers could be making shipments as early as this Fall,” Cantwell said in a Sept 5 statement. “With over a billion people, this is one of the world’s largest markets and represents a significant growth opportunity for Washington growers.”
A recent Congressional Research Service report on U.S.-Mexican trade relations noted that members of Congress have varying views on USMCA, the trade deal that has integrated North American supply chains, particularly in the auto industry.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is traveling to Europe this week to discuss security issues, including topics surrounding Russia and China. The group, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., will travel to Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands to discuss the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the “imperative of confronting shared threats from the Chinese Communist Party,” according to an Aug. 31 news release issued by McCaul. “Together, we can harness the transatlantic alliance to safeguard our shared interests and ensure unprovoked aggression does not go unanswered anywhere in the world,” he said.
A new House bill with Republican support could establish more congressional oversight on any scientific partnership agreements between the U.S. and China, including the Science and Technology Agreement (STA) that was due to expire Aug. 27 (see 2308070055). The Science and Technology Agreement Enhanced Congressional Notification Act, introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., last week, would require the State Department to “provide comprehensive details to Congress about any new agreement” and wait at least 30 days “post-submission before proceeding.”
A bill reintroduced last week could allow any House member to force a debate on the House floor over certain contested U.S. arms sales. The Arms Sale Oversight Act, which has been introduced in previous years, would align House procedures for reviewing major arms sales with certain existing Senate procedures and give House members the ability to discuss those proposed sales if the House Foreign Affairs Committee doesn’t debate them. The bill was introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and co-sponsored by Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
The Commerce Department’s new trade working group and export control enforcement initiative with China (see 2308280042) is “at best naive, but also dangerous,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said. China “steals U.S. intellectual property and hacks the emails of senior government officials,” said McCaul, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee. “The administration must stop treating the [Chinese Communist Party] as anything other than an adversary who will stop at nothing to harm our national security and spread its malign authoritarianism around the globe.”
A bill was introduced in the House that could lead to new export controls on genetic mapping technology and sanction entities in China and elsewhere involved in certain genetic mapping efforts. The bill would specifically direct the Commerce Department to deny licenses for those exporting these items to certain countries unless the exporter can submit documentation to the government "to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that, if the license is approved, the technology will not be used for human rights abuses or by an entity that has engaged in human rights abuses."
A new House bill would require the U.S. to maintain certain sanctions against Iraq even if the administration ends the “applicable declared national emergency” that authorizes those sanctions. The legislation was introduced Aug. 11 by Rep. Elijah Crane, R-Ariz., and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked the Kyrgyz Republic to “swiftly” investigate allegations that the country’s government has helped Russia evade international sanctions. In an Aug 8 letter to President Sadyr Japarov, Menendez said Kyrgyzstan has “dramatically expanded its import-export business with Russia” since Russia launched its war against Ukraine, and said Kyrgyzstan’s “lack of enforcement or worse -- complicit facilitation of trade with Russia in products that implicate sanctions, such as drones, aircraft parts, weapon accessories, and circuitry -- is reportedly enabling Russia to evade international sanctions.”
Congress needs to enact stronger export controls legislation to complement the Biden administration’s outbound investment restrictions against China unveiled last week (see 2308090066 and 2308100045), said House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee Chairwoman Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif. Kim said she’s “glad” the administration is “acting to restrict U.S. investment of critical technologies developed in China,” and she said the measure “should not be treated as a silver bullet.”