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.
Eighteen House members, led by Reps. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., and Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., introduced the Nicaragua Free Trade Review Act, which requires the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to review Nicaragua's compliance with the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) within 60 days of the bill becoming law. “Under Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua has become a land of oppression” Salazar said in a June 17 news release. “Ortega's thugs are jailing political opponents and violently silencing dissenting voices. I've introduced the Nicaragua Free Trade Review Act because trade with the United States is a privilege, not a right. We must show Ortega's regime that they cannot continue repressing the Nicaraguan people while reaping the economic benefits of free trade with the United States.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bill last week they say will strengthen semiconductor supply chains by incentivizing more domestic manufacturing. The Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act, like several similar bills proposed in recent months (see 2106100028), would introduce investment tax credits for investments in semiconductor manufacturing and other incentives for the semiconductor industry, the senators said June 17. An emphasis would be placed on manufacturing of “specialized tooling equipment” required in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and top Republican Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, introduced the bill with four other committee members as co-sponsors.
The State Department should issue more sanctions against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega regime, which is arresting political opposition leaders and continues to commit human rights violations, a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers said. In a June 15 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the lawmakers said the U.S. can expand on the designations issued June 9 against members of Ortega’s inner circle (see 2106090055).
The two top Republicans on the Senate and House foreign affairs committees urged President Joe Biden to immediately impose a second round of sanctions against Russia under the U.S. Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act. In a June 16 letter, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the administration was required to impose a second round of sanctions under the CBW Act unless it certified to Congress by June 2 that the Vladimir Putin regime was “no longer using chemical weapons in violation of international law” and agreed to on-site inspections. The Biden administration had imposed the first round of sanctions against Russia in March (see 2103020067).
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the State Department must submit to Congress any new deal reached with Iran over its nuclear commitments and allow lawmakers to “review and assess” it. The lawmakers said a potential U.S. return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would “clearly” constitute a new deal and would require congressional review under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced a bill to prevent the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board from potentially investing federal civil servants’ retirement savings in companies on the Entity List. The Thrift Savings Plan Fiduciary Security Act would modify the FRTIB's duties by “incorporating a duty to not harm U.S. national security,” Rubio said June 10. Under the legislation, the board would not be allowed to invest in companies on the Commerce Department’s Entity List or companies designated by the Treasury Department as Chinese military companies. “The Board and their friends on Wall Street will get away with using American servicemembers’ own savings to fund threats to U.S. national security if the fiduciary duties binding these money managers only focus on short-term financial value,” Rubio said. “My legislation would update the Board’s fiduciary duty to more accurately reflect the interests of the TSP’s beneficiaries, rather than the financial interests of Wall Street.”