A group of Texas members of the House of Representatives wrote to officials at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA lauding their “forceful stand” against Mexican attempts to ban imports of genetically modified corn, and urging them to file a USMCA dispute if an agreement with Mexico is not reached.

The Biden administration should take “immediate action” through an executive order to screen U.S. outbound investments in China, Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a commentary published this week in The Washington Times. Although the two lawmakers championed the National Critical Capabilities Defense Act, which would create a Committee on National Critical Capabilities to review those investments, they said the administration can move more quickly.

Senators are working closely with the Biden administration, and believe they have its support, on a bill that could strengthen the ability of the U.S. to respond to economic coercion by foreign countries (see 2302080068). The bill, reintroduced this week by Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Chris Coons, D-Del., could allow the president to lower duties on non-import-sensitive goods made by a country that lost exports due to coercive actions; increase duties on imports from the "foreign adversary" committing the coercion; and allow the U.S. to more easily facilitate trade with the coerced parties.

Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Chris Coons, D-Del., reintroduced a bill that would give the president the authority to lower duties on non-import-sensitive goods made by a country that lost exports due to coercive actions, and increase duties on imports from the "foreign adversary" committing economic coercion. It would also give the administration the ability to waive some export financing requirements and expedite regulations to facilitate trade with the coerced parties.

Congress should “pressure” the Biden administration to pursue free trade deals with the U.K., Kenya, Taiwan and others if it wants to convince U.S. allies to move supply chains out of China, said Clete Willems, a former National Security Council official. Willems, speaking during a House Financial Services Committee hearing this week, also called on the administration to join and renegotiate the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, arguing the U.S. needs to match China’s “aggressive pursuit” of trade deals, specifically mentioning the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

A bipartisan bill could add the USDA secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and block China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from investing in American agricultural companies. The bill is aimed at “preventing foreign adversaries from taking any ownership or control of the United States’ agricultural land and agricultural businesses,” lawmakers said.

With hostile acts like China recently sending a spy balloon drifting across the U.S., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said it's difficult to manage the U.S.-China relationship "when our economies are deeply integrated."

In West Virginia, where the first House Ways and Means Committee hearing of the new Congress was held since the Republicans won the majority, the members asked questions of business owners, and were hosted by a mid-sized business that sells hardwood lumber to furniture makers, cabinetmakers and flooring manufacturers.

Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., introduced a bill this month that could impose new sanctions on Chinese military companies and surveillance companies with ties to the Chinese government. The bill, which could impose financial sanctions on companies subject to certain U.S. investment restrictions (see 2106030067), was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees. Barr introduced similar legislation in 2021 that would have required the U.S. to sanction entities included on the Defense Department’s annual listing of Chinese military companies.

Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee will join the Republican minority on the Senate Finance Committee, Republicans announced this week. Two of the Republicans who previously served on the committee chose not to run again in 2022, and one quit part-way through his term to become a university president.