Bill to Improve Enforcement of U.S. Trade Rights Introduced
On February 2, 2009, Senator Snowe1 (R) introduced the Trade Complaint and Litigation Accountability Improvement Measures Act of 2009 (the Trade CLAIM Act, S. 363), a bill aimed at strengthening and improving the enforcement of U.S. trade rights.
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Highlights of the Trade CLAIM Act
According to a press release from Senator Snowe, the Trade CLAIM Act would:
Amend Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the statute containing general procedures for the enforcement of U.S. trade rights) to limit the U.S. Trade Representative's ability to decline an interested party's petition to take formal action in cases where a U.S. trade right has been violated to instances where:
- the matter has already been addressed by the relevant trade dispute settlement body;
- the foreign country is taking imminent steps to end or ameliorate the effects of the practice;
- taking action would do more harm than good to the U.S. economy; or
- taking action would cause serious harm to the national security of the U.S.
Grant the U.S. Court of International Trade jurisdiction to review de novo (i.e., without deference to USTR's decisions) USTR denials of Section 301 industry petitions to investigate and take enforcement action against unfair foreign trade laws or practices.
(Such jurisdiction would include the ability to review USTR determinations that U.S. trade rights have not been violated as alleged in industry petitions, and the sufficiency of formal actions taken by USTR in response to foreign trade laws or practices determined to violate U.S. trade rights.)
1Note that Senator Snowe was one of three Senate Republicans that supported H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Economic Stimulus Bill).
Press release on S. 363 (issued 02/02/09) available at http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=390bff72-802a-23ad-4999-6f69a00ff6c3&Region_id=&Issue_id=.
S. 363 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s363is.txt.pdf.
BP Note
Senator Snowe previously introduced the Trade CLAIM Act in both 2006 and 2007, but after it was referred to committee, no further action was taken.