Top Trade Lawmakers Introduce First MTB Since 2012 Expiration
The top Republican and Democratic trade lawmakers in both the House and Senate on Nov. 9 introduced the first miscellaneous tariff bill since legislation reforming the MTB process was signed into law in May 2016 (see 1605200041), the House Ways and Means Committee announced. It is also the first MTB since duty suspensions under the last MTB expired Dec. 31, 2012. Requiring manufacturers to pay tariffs on inputs not produced in the U.S. "increases their manufacturing costs and makes them less competitive internationally," said Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, ranking member Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement. "The MTB will temporarily suspend or reduce these burdensome tariffs.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Ways and Means and Finance prepared the legislation to implement the recommendations of the International Trade Commission’s final report on MTB petitions, which was sent to Congress Aug. 8 (see 1708080068), a Ways and Means press release says. The 510-page Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2017 appears to add tariff benefits for 1,675 HTS items, with a general expiration date of Dec. 31, 2020. The provisions would apply to goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after the 30th day after the bill’s enactment. Finance didn’t comment on the Senate consideration process for the legislation.
The press release didn’t include a Senate bill number, only referring to its House counterpart, H.R. 4318. “We look forward to moving swiftly on this legislation to deliver much-needed tariff relief to American manufacturers this year,” Brady, Neal, Hatch and Wyden said in a statement. Industry officials and congressional sources have indicated MTB and GSP renewal bills could be rolled into one package in an effort to get both enacted by the end of 2017 (see 1709120021 and 1706200050), but Ways and Means didn’t comment on when GSP renewal legislation might be introduced.