Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., introduced a bill that would offer the more generous unemployment and retraining benefits under Trade Adjustment Assistance to people who lost their jobs because their companies' exports declined after retaliatory tariffs. The bill, whose text was published Sept. 20, says the retaliation could be as a result of tariffs under Section 232, Section 301 or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Currently, TAA covers job loss due to import competition in goods and services.
Six Republicans introduced a bill last week that would impose sanctions on foreign individuals who knowingly provide assistance to the Taliban, and require the U.S. government to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not go to “foreign terrorist organizations in Afghanistan.” The text of the bill was published Sept. 20.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, recently offered several amendments to the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, including provisions relating to export control statistics, the Entity List and sanctions.
In reaction to news that China has formally asked to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (see 2109170052), TPP's two greatest champions in the Senate said negotiations on trade with Asian allies must resume. Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, issued a joint statement Sept. 20: “It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that China is taking steps to strengthen their trade powers across the globe. For quite some time, we have been warning about China’s subtle yet deliberate moves to join the CPTPP -- the very trade pact crafted to counter China’s trade influence that the United States mistakenly walked away from. And last week, we saw them take an affirmative step in that troubling direction. We’ve long believed that United States trade leadership is critical for our country’s economy and national security -- and it’s clear that China is not waiting to assert itself in the region. The U.S. cannot afford to continue waiting in the hallway -- we must get our seat back at the table to re-engage our Asia Pacific allies in trade.”
The legislative language for a proposed change to the treatment of excise tax drawback claims on exported tobacco would make such claims ineligible not just going forward (see 2109130038), but also would disallow claims filed since Dec. 18, 2018. That is the date that CBP issued a final rule saying that such claims were not allowed. However, the prohibition did not take effect until Feb. 19, 2019, because of the 60-day waiting period after the rule's publication (see 1908300032). The final rule was overturned in court, so some exporters have been collecting substitution drawback on these goods -- or as the government calls it, "double drawback," since the case was won.
Senate Republicans said they will drop their objections to two Treasury Department nominees slated to oversee the agency’s sanctions work (see 2106220037) if the Biden administration sanctions the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. In a Sept. 13 letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania laid out their conditions for dropping their opposition and said they are “hopeful” President Joe Biden will commit to sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says that although his initial list of pay-fors did not include any taxes on tobacco, he thinks the House Ways and Means Committee proposal is worthy of being included on what he called "a menu of options" to give Democratic senators choices. "I happen to think that this is an important idea, they're talking, I gather, at e-cigarettes," he said during a Capitol hallway interview.
More than 150 trade groups and companies sent a letter to the co-sponsors of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, endorsing the legislation. The letter says, "We certainly welcomed the Interpretive Rule on Detention and Demurrage as published by the Federal Maritime Commission, but we need more than just 'guidance' that is not being followed by ocean carriers nor marine terminals, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in unfair penalties against US shippers and their transportation partners.”
The Treasury Department should add Chinese technology company Tuya to its Non-Specially Designated National Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, three Republican senators said. Tuya poses a “national security threat” to the U.S. because of its “significant control” over the international internet-connected market, or Internet of Things, which potentially gives it access to sensitive data on Americans, the senators said in a Sept. 9 letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. They also said Tuya operates under the Chinese government.
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the acting head of the Bureau of Industry and Security misrepresented facts in front of a congressional commission last week (see 2109080062), saying he wasn't straightforward about the agency’s “delayed and incomplete” provision of export licensing decisions to Congress. Although BIS Acting Undersecretary Jeremy Pelter told the commission that BIS has complied with all laws regarding the disclosure of licensing information to Congress, Rep. Michael McCaul said the agency hasn’t been transparent.