Brady Skeptical of MTB/GSP as Part of NDAA
The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said he thinks that the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill ought to be bipartisan policies, and he would prefer that the House and Senate agree on them as freestanding bills rather than "jam it through" on the Senate's National Defense Authorization Act. "I haven’t had a conversation with Chairman [Richard] Neal about adding it to NDAA. If that’s an approach he thinks would work with his members, I would support that -- it’s important to get it done sooner rather than later," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, added in response to questions from International Trade Today during a phone call with reporters Nov. 16.
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"A full, independent, stand-alone discussion on how best to address China supply chain issues and trade is warranted, and, in fact, should be the way to go," Brady said. The GSP and MTB are part of a much larger China package passed by the Senate this summer that would increase government funding for domestic semiconductor production, among other measures.
When asked if the GSP and MTB can be renewed this year if they are not part of the NDAA, Brady said he feels like Neal, D-Mass., "is sincere about trying to find a consensus path forward this year on these measures, and I still think there’s time to do this."
During the press call, Brady also said that the Biden administration has a very capable trade representative, and so it should allow her to negotiate for a phase two agreement with China and "end the de facto moratorium on trade negotiations right away." He said of the Asia-Pacific economic framework being talked about during Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai's travels in Asia this week, it "may have some marginal merit but doesn’t have the impact or the benefits of a new trade agreement" (see 2111170055).