Lawmakers are again expressing concern about the U.S. national security review of TikTok (see 2211230033), saying they fear the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. without divesting itself from its Chinese owner Bytedance.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the former House Ways and Means Committee chairman who is retiring from Congress at the end of the month, told reporters in a farewell press conference that he thinks, with divided government, the administration will not be able to impose its will in trade and international tax policies by avoiding tariff reductions.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, and outgoing New Democrats Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced a resolution that asks the U.S. trade representative to re-launch negotiations at the World Trade Organization to liberalize trade in environmental goods.
A bipartisan bill could place new sanctions on Huawei and other Chinese technology companies by adding them to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals List. The bill, introduced in the Senate this week by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Rick Scott, R-Fla., would impose financial sanctions on “untrustworthy Chinese 5G producers who engage in economic espionage against the United States,” the lawmakers said, and “effectively freeze them” from using the U.S. financial system. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., introduced a companion bill in the House.
U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation this week that would block certain transactions with TikTok or other social media companies under the influence of China, Russia and several other foreign countries. The Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act, introduced in the Senate by Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and in the House by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., “would protect Americans by blocking and prohibiting all transactions” with TikTok, the lawmakers said.
Technology competition with China, including U.S. foreign direct investment reviews, will be part of the oversight priorities of the Republican-controlled House during the next Congress, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said last week.
Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., speaking at an event hosted by Punchbowl News, asserted he will be the next chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, not Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla.
The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said Republican and Democratic staff on the committee "haven’t had extensive discussions on GSP and MTB, and won't, my sense is, as long as there’s an insistence on [linking them to renewing] Trade Adjustment Assistance."
Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chris Coons, D-Del, laid out parameters of a trade package they hope to get passed in the next three weeks in Congress.
The Congressional Research Service this week updated its report on U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, outlining the types of designations imposed on the country and policy considerations for the U.S. government and Congress. The report now reflects the Treasury Department’s decision last month to grant Chevron a general license to resume certain oil activities in Venezuela for the first time in years (see 2211280042). CRS said “fluctuations in oil prices also have put pressure on U.S. and European officials to find alternate sources to replace Russian-supplied oil.”