Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., cosponsored a bill that would ban the import and export of bear viscera, a bill designed to discourage bear poaching in order to harvest bear bile, used in traditional Chinese medicines. The bill, introduced Jan. 11, says that while the black bear population in the U.S. is stable, government officials have found that U.S. bears have been poached for their gallbladders.
A bill that would have imposed sanctions on companies associated with the Russia-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline was rejected by the Senate Jan. 13 after it failed to garner the necessary 60 votes to pass. The bill, introduced in December by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. (see 2201110059), faced strong opposition from the White House, which said before the vote that the bill would “only serve to undermine unity amongst our European allies,” including Germany (see 2201110059).
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is requesting an explanation from the General Services Administration after it reportedly provided a portal for U.S. agencies to buy technology produced by a Chinese company on the Entity List. In a letter to GSA, Rubio pointed to reports that the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Defense Department’s Defense Finance and Accounting Service and the Department of the Army all used the GSA Advantage portal to buy hard drives and video surveillance equipment manufactured by Lorex, a subsidiary of Dahua Technology. Dahua Technology was added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2019 for providing the Chinese government with surveillance equipment to monitor the country’s Uyghur population.
The leaders of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees urged the Biden administration to impose more sanctions on the Bashar al-Assad regime to “reinforce” the U.S.’s position against Syria. The lawmakers said several Arab partners have continued formal and informal relationships with the regime despite its “horrific” human rights abuses, and more sanctions could make sure the regime remains isolated.
The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and that committee's chairman, as well as the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, urged the deputy U.S. trade representative to press Mexico and Canada on market access issues for the energy and agricultural sectors, and the senators also complained about barriers for the telecom, pharmaceutical and television industries in either Mexico or Canada. Deputy USTR Jayme White is meeting with Canadian and Mexican counterparts this week.
Agricultural and energy market access in Mexico are of concern to Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, as he talks about the need to enforce USMCA's provisions, but he dismissed Mexico's concern that the U.S. is not following the treaty's text as it lays out rules for imported automobiles and light trucks to enter the U.S. tariff-free.
Two additional U.S. lawmakers said they are concerned Airbnb lists more than a dozen homes for rent on land owned by a sanctioned paramilitary Chinese entity and asked the company to remove the listings (see 2112070062). Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and James McGovern, D-Mass., the two leaders of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, asked Arbnb to ensure none of its rental homes is located on property owned by U.S.-sanctioned entities and to “remove such listings if they are discovered.”
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The 24 notifications, from July through September, feature arms sales to numerous countries, including the U.K., Israel, Australia, Canada, France, South Korea, Spain, Qatar, Italy, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
Fourteen pro-trade House Democrats are asking Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to quickly advance discussions on how tariffs on Japanese and British steel and aluminum could be lifted. "[D]ownstream users continue to face astonishingly high prices in steel and aluminum," wrote the group, which is led by Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state.
Sixteen months ago, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cautioned that while the prospect of a free trade agreement with Taiwan was attractive, it could damage trade relations with China (see 2008170045). On a call with reporters Dec. 21, Grasley said he thinks "it would be a good move now to send a signal to China that Taiwan is important being independent of China," and negotiating a free trade deal with the island would do that. Taiwanese voters rejected a referendum that would have restored a ban on imported pork that ingested ractopamine, a feed additive. The earlier ban was a trade irritant for the U.S., as many U.S. pigs are raised with ractopamine. But, Grassley acknowledged, the administration has not been pursuing new free trade deals, or even continuing negotiations that were started during the Trump administration, so he thinks this will not begin soon.