House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., and 62 other Republican members, including Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to open a formal dispute under USMCA over Mexico's treatment of biotech corn imports.
Lawmakers this week previewed two bills that could expand U.S. export controls, including one that could require the U.S. to impose new license requirements on certain data exports and another that would require the administration to create a tool to counter economic coercion.
A bipartisan bill recently introduced in the Senate could expand sanctions against China for human rights abuses against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang province. The Uyghur Genocide Accountability and Sanctions Act, introduced by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., could revise the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 by expanding the types of sanctionable activities and requiring the president to consider sanctions against foreign people or companies that knowingly provide “significant goods, services, or technology” to people sanctioned under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act.
The Commerce Department needs to answer for its promotion of “dangerous surveillance technology” in foreign markets and the steps it’s taking to make sure the technology isn’t being used to violate human rights, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a letter last week to the agency and its International Trade Administration. Wyden said the ITA confirmed to him last year that it “provides assistance to companies selling such technologies, including to foreign governments,” but the agency declined to provide details about those activities, citing “unspecified potential legal barriers.”
The chair of the House Financial Services Committee is asking the Treasury Department for more information about potential outbound investment restrictions in China, including what types of investments in specific technologies would be targeted, whether the Biden administration plans to establish the regime through a national emergency and if the restrictions would be more effective than traditional trade restrictions. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., is concerned outbound investment restrictions “would prove futile,” the lawmaker’s news release said, and would “further serve” China’s goal of “limiting the influence of Western firms in Chinese markets.”
House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., introduced the Undertaking Negotiations on Investment and Trade for Economic Dynamism (United) Act, a bill that directs the administration to begin negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement within 180 days of passage.
Republicans leaders this week criticized China's decision to ban certain sales from U.S. chip company Micron (see 2305220053), saying the move was politically driven and lacked evidence.
The State Department needs to answer for media reports that it “held back” human rights sanctions and export controls on China following the U.S. discovery of a Chinese reconnaissance balloon in American airspace earlier this year (see 2302100072), said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, cited a recent Reuters report that said the State Department was trying to “limit damage to the U.S.-China relationship” and pushed back on new trade restrictions.
A bill introduced by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., called the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act, would authorize the administration to impose sanctions on Chinese chemical companies and government officials who don't do appropriate compliance and oversight to prevent their chemicals from being sold to narcotraffickers.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act, a follow-up bill to OSRA from original co-sponsors Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., passed 58-1 out of the House Transportation Committee May 23.