Witnesses at a joint Energy and Environment and Climate Change subcommittees hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee told members that incentives to buy electric vehicles would spur domestic battery manufacturing; that financial support for battery recycling would allow domestic battery production to move away from problematic cobalt imports; and that Buy American rules are critical for supporting domestic factories.
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.
Congress should direct CBP to impose "a region-wide Withhold Release Order on products originating from Xinjiang, China," the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said within a group of 32 recommendations for lawmakers. Congress should also require the Department of Homeland Security "to provide a comprehensive list of technologies needed and an outline of the resources required to enforce the Withhold Release Order and address other instances of China’s use of forced labor." it said in the report, released Nov. 17.
Questions on irregular migration and the vetting of Afghan refugees dominated the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing hosting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Mayorkas also did not mention trade in his opening remarks. But Sen.Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., asked what the administration is doing to ameliorate "significant delays in the processing of inbound shipments" at the port of Savannah. "I'm very well aware of the challenge there," Mayorkas replied, and said that 24/7 operations is one step the administration has tried. Ossoff said he is glad that the administration accepted his request that the port receive approximately $8 million to "rapidly scale up its operations, establish some auxiliary shipping container areas, make greater use of inland ports, to support our efforts to expand capacity." He asked that DHS continue to "move as rapidly as possible" to help in the effort.
China dwelled on trade more than the U.S. did in the countries' respective summaries of the more than three-hour call between their presidents. But one think-tank author said China would like the tariffs to go away, "but will not pay too much to make it happen."
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Trade Minister Hagiuda Koichi Nov. 15, and talked about strengthening supply chains, export controls and cooperating on digital technologies -- and talked about how to cooperate to confront excess capacity in steel and aluminum. Japanese exports of steel face a 25% tariff in the U.S., and after the U.S. agreed to tariff rate quotas on steel with Europe, Japan asked to get a similar deal.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., along with 22 Democrats and Republicans from Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, California, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to press Indian government officials to lower their 36% tariffs on American pecans when she meets with them this week. "As you may know, American pecan producers have faced many challenges due to rising imports from Mexico, Chinese tariffs, natural disasters like Hurricane Michael, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Gaining access to new markets for pecans will help ease the pain while orchards are replanted and as we push China for full implementation of its obligations under the U.S.-China Economic and Trade Agreement," they wrote. They said that pecan production contributes $3.57 billion to the "economies of the 15 pecan producing states in the United States."
The Customs Modernization Act draft bill in the Senate is largely a customs enforcement bill, not a customs modernization bill, Sidley Austin attorney Barbara Broussard said in an interview, but she's hopeful that some carrots can be added to the sticks in the current approach. She said traders would really like to be able to file entry summaries monthly or quarterly, similar to the way Customs reconciliation is allowed, rather than having to do entry summaries within 10 days of goods' entrance into commerce. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La, recently requested stakeholder input on the draft bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a letter to colleagues, said it's "likely" that the Senate will consider the National Defense Authorization Act this week, and the China package that passed the Senate in June may be attached to it. That bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, included a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (see 2106090041). Schumer said “there seems to be fairly broad” bipartisan support for adding USICA to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would allow a USICA negotiation with the House “to be completed alongside” the NDAA before the end of the year. The House plans to write its own version of USICA.
A new dwelling fee on containers at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports should not be passed on to importers, said Noel Hacegaba, chief operating officer of the Port of Long Beach. Hacegaba was speaking to the U.S. Fashion Industry Association virtual conference, during a Nov. 10 panel on the supply chain.