The House of Representatives passed three Senate resolutions that would block the export of Raytheon laser-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These munitions are used in those countries' interventions in the Yemen civil war, which many members of Congress disapprove of. All Democrats, four Republicans and former Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan supported the resolutions, and a handful of members from both parties didn't vote the evening of July 17. The 238 or 237 votes in favor of the resolutions are not enough to override an expected veto; the resolutions passed the Senate 53-45, also not strongly enough to override a veto. There are 19 other resolutions the Senate passed on arms sales to these countries that have not yet been voted on in the House.

Two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to impose more sanctions on Nicaragua officials, saying the current sanctions regime, including designations announced June 21, need to be expanded. In a July 11 letter, Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Pompeo should “work with Congress on additional efforts to hold Nicaraguan officials accountable.” The letter cited Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s “human rights abuses” and keeping of political prisoners.

Rep. Ron Kind, a pro-trade Democrat from a rural district in Wisconsin, is questioning the Trump administration's claims that large-scale purchases of commodities would follow the meeting of the Chinese and U.S. presidents at the G-20 Summit in Japan. He sent a letter to Larry Kudlow, the president's chief economic adviser, and to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on July 17 making this point. "On July 15, Mr. Kudlow stated that the Administration expects that China will soon be announcing 'some large scale purchases' but offered no further details. Farmers in Wisconsin and around the country are under intense pressure to stay above water, and any notifications of additional agricultural purchases should be clearly communicated to the Congress and the public."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters July 16 that he's no longer making predictions about how or when the China-U.S. trade conflict might get resolved. In April, before the breakdown in talks, Grassley was cheering the progress the administration was making (see 1904100052). He said he had been expecting something to be signed in late May, and when the talks fell apart, "I thought we were at the 10-yard line getting an agreement." So now, he said, "I'm going to be very careful" about reacting to news about how things are going between negotiators. He said he heard the rumors that hawks in China are ascendant, and that an addition to the Chinese negotiating team bodes ill for an agreement, but then also saw commentators saying such pessimism is overblown. "I’m just going to take it a day at a time," he said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who's also running for president, has asked an ethics official in the Commerce Department to examine whether the head of the International Trade Administration and the acting undersecretary for Industry and Security have ethical conflicts in the steel and aluminum Section 232 exclusion process. Both ITA and the Bureau of Industry and Security are responsible for evaluating the exclusion requests, and BIS officials ultimately grant or reject the requests.

The House on July 15 passed a bill that would order the president to impose sanctions on corrupt government officials in the Northern Triangle countries, according to a press release from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The bill, titled the "United States-Northern Triangle Enhanced Engagement Act," would sanction officials involved in bribery, extortion and money laundering through asset freezes and U.S. travel bans. Violators of the sanctions would be subject to penalties in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a member of the House working group negotiating with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said the second meeting, held the morning of July 11, was interesting, like the first. Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose area of interest in the group is the provision for biologic drug makers, said that topic was covered at the first meeting, before the Fourth of July break.

The House passed on voice votes July 11 three amendments aimed at addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE for inclusion in the chamber's version of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2500). One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to be able to lift the Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of Huawei to its Entity List that would impose export restrictions on the company, including a finding that Huawei and its executives haven't violated U.S. or United Nations sanctions and haven't engaged in theft of U.S. intellectual property during the preceding five years. Acting Commerce Undersecretary for Industry and Security Nazak Nikakhtar said on July 9 the department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei in order to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon” (see 1907090068).

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said that although under fast track authority the administration could send the implementing bill for the NAFTA rewrite on July 9, the administration will not be doing that. "There's respect for this legislative process and the importance of Pelosi involved this process... the White House is not going to do anything without consulting with her," he said. He referred to White House Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow's comments earlier that morning about the administration's plans.

Leaders of the generally pro-trade New Democrat Coalition warned the U.S. trade representative not to send an implementing bill for the new NAFTA to Congress on July 9. Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Dems, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, co-chairman of the group's trade task force, spoke to reporters July 8 about why they sent a letter that day to USTR warning him off.