Congress may want to advise the Biden administration on which issues it should prioritize during discussions on a potential free trade agreement with Kenya (see 2105120050 and 2104020034), the Congressional Research Service said in a July 7 report. The report provides an overview of the various motivations, challenges and potential roadblocks that officials might face during negotiations, and said the deal could be pivotal for the U.S. desire to expand trading ties in Africa. Reducing trade barriers could also help U.S. companies remain competitive in the Kenyan market, especially after that country finalized a deal with the United Kingdom (see 2011030017) and is close to completing an agreement with the European Union.
A day before high-level trade talks with Taiwan (see 2106300009), Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Mark Warner, D-Va., led a letter asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to reconvene the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) meetings, and requested that she then “take steps to begin laying the groundwork for negotiation of a free trade agreement (FTA), or other preliminary agreement, with Taiwan.” Forty other senators signed.
Rep. Rick Larsen, a pro-trade Democrat from Washington state, told an audience at the Washington International Trade Association that Congress views China primarily as a strategic competitor, though members recognize there are areas of cooperation as well. He said that 10 years ago, the view from Washington was the reverse.
Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, was cool to fellow Texas delegation member Sen. John Cornyn's proposal to study the possibility of allowing goods made in foreign-trade zones to be considered originating under USMCA.
The United Nations should take “immediate measures” to respond to continued human rights violations committed by China, the leaders of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China said in a July 1 letter to Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Commission chairs Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., said the U.N. should provide an update on whether it has made progress in “implementing the measures” suggested last year by U.N. human rights experts to tackle China's treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. If no measures have been taken, the lawmakers asked the U.N. to “provide a basis for the failure to act.” “With these gross human rights violations in mind,” they said, “we echo the UN experts’ call for immediate measures to closely monitor and assess China’s behavior.”
Reps. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., told President Joe Biden that 20% of farm income comes from exports, and said an agricultural negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative would help expand those sales. “For several years, our producers have experienced price declines, retaliatory tariffs, severe weather, drought, and other hardships that have been out of their control,” they wrote in a June 29 letter. They said that fresh vegetable exports last year to Japan fell 35% and that the same exports to Taiwan fell 12%. “It is critical the Chief Agricultural Negotiator promotes American agriculture around the world and works vigorously to advance existing and future markets for our producers.” Twenty-six other members also signed.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce asked Congress to work to renew and update the fast-track law officially called Trade Promotion Authority, which just expired. Executive Vice President and Head of International Affairs Myron Brilliant said, “TPA is the vehicle that allows American workers, farmers, and companies to secure the benefits of a new market-opening trade agreements; it lets members of Congress set negotiating objectives and guarantees they will be consulted as trade talks proceed; and it strengthens the hand of U.S. trade officials as they engage with foreign governments. To advance a pro-growth, pro-jobs trade agenda, TPA is essential.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced a bill that would require a study of whether Canadian and Mexican manufacturers are able to get tariff breaks on non-North American inputs to their goods, and if so, does that affect the cost-competitiveness of products manufactured in the U.S. for domestic and export markets. Cornyn led an unsuccessful effort to convince the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in 2020 that goods produced inside foreign-trade zones should be treated as products of the U.S. (see 2012020031).
Senate Finance Subcommittee on International Trade Chairman Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., and ranking member Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, agree that the U.S. should be in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but the expert witnesses at the hearing they held June 22 showed no path to the U.S. reentering the agreement with the 11 countries that went on to seal the deal. This was despite agreement among most subcommittee members (though not Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio) and the witnesses that leaving TPP was a tactical mistake that leaves the U.S. at a trade and geopolitical disadvantage.
A bipartisan letter from four House members asked the European Union's ambassador to the U.S. for a meeting to see if the changes to export certificate requirements for food could be reconsidered or delayed. Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., publicized the letter in a June 17 press release. Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., and Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., also signed the letter.