The Senate’s 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act would require the director of National Intelligence to assess U.S. export controls on critical technologies, according to a June 17 Senate report on the bill. The bill, which was passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month, calls for a review of U.S. controls on artificial intelligence, microchips, advanced manufacturing equipment and “other AI-enabled technologies,” the report said. It would also require the administration to identify areas for export control cooperation with “international partners.” Another provision in the bill requires the CIA, the Treasury Department and the FBI to submit a report to Congress on Chinese and Russian officials that could be targeted with U.S. sanctions.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged the Trump administration to sanction China for its infringement on Hong Kong’s autonomy, saying Beijing must face penalties. “I encourage the administration to use the tools Congress has given it and to work with like-minded nations to impose those costs,” McConnell said on the Senate floor June 18. The administration certified last month that Hong Kong no longer warrants special customs treatment and Trump vowed to impose sanctions and export controls against the region (see 2005290047), but the administration has yet to announce concrete measures (see 2006040038). “Every nation that cares about democracy and stability has a stake in ensuring that Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong carry consequences,” McConnell said.

Any future Section 301 exclusion renewals will only last until the end of the year, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told the House Ways and Means Committee as he testified June 17 about the administration's trade agenda, adding that “they will decide what happens after that.”

China could and should be buying more U.S. products, according to a letter Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, asking him what he's intending to do about it. Scott cited research from the Peterson Institute for International Economics that shows China, through April 2020, has purchased roughly 45 percent of what it promised, if purchases were to build at the same pace through the remainder of this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., named two labor activists to the Independent Mexico Labor Expert Board: Cathy Feingold, director of the AFL-CIO international department, and Fred Ross, founder of Neighbor to Neighbor, a grassroots labor rights advocacy group. The 12-member board, established under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will monitor Mexico's implementation of its labor law revisions. The Senate and House majority and minority leaders will each appoint two members, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's Labor Advisory Committee will select four. Members serve six-year terms.

Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., introduced legislation to sanction people or companies that “enable the significant and serial theft” of U.S. intellectual property. The bill would authorize blocking measures and asset freezes and allow the president to include an entity on the Commerce Department’s Denied Persons List. “This bipartisan legislation will help end foreign theft of innovative technologies invented in the United States and will send a strong signal to bad actors across the globe,” Van Hollen said in a June 11 statement. The U.S. should “stop leaving an open door for China and other adversaries to steal intellectual property and undercut our strength,” Sasse said.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, a House Ways and Means Committee member who also leads on trade in the New Democrats, said she's worried that the participation of “so many countries” at the World Trade Organization in e-commerce talks -- including China -- will mean that the result will not be a high-standard agreement.

Five senators announced a bill to expand on sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The bill would sanction vessels involved in laying the pipes, those who provide the vessels and those who provide tethering services to those vessels, according to a June 4 press release. “This new bill will once and for all clarify that those involved in any way with installing pipeline for the project will face crippling and immediate American sanctions,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who introduced the bill along with Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

The implementing bill for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement did not allow for merchandise processing fees to be refunded in response to a post-importation preference claim, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., has introduced a bill that would fix that. The bill was introduced June 3. The replacement agreement for NAFTA will take effect on July 1, and CBP officials have said they hope this fix can be done by that time (see 2005220050).

The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said most in Congress believe “Trump is right to hold China accountable for fundamental rights in Hong Kong,” but declined to say what should be done if that action leads to a breakdown in the phase one trade deal with China. China has already stopped some purchases of soybeans, but has not officially declared it will cease purchases of U.S.-grown commodities.