The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Jan. 26 to hear from the nominee to head the Commerce Department, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D).

The Congressional Research Service issued a Jan. 8 report detailing the major agricultural trade issues facing the incoming Congress and highlighting issues related to potential trade deals with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Kenya, India and other allies. The report also provides an overview of non-tariff trade barriers impacting U.S. exporters and details the U.S.’s top export markets over the last several years.

Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said Jan. 4 that they strongly encourage European Union officials “to delay any agreement with China so that the next Congress and president can work alongside them in ending China’s illegal and unfair trade practices and threats to global supply chain integrity.” Some trade negotiators worry that the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (see 2012300030) will allow China to divide and conquer. “America’s go-it-alone approach to trade over the past four years has harmed American workers, consumers, and businesses, all of whom have paid the cost of various punitive tariff campaigns,” the senators said in a statement, adding it also undermined America's global standing and slowed economic growth. “It is encouraging that President-elect [Joe] Biden would like the European Union to wait until he takes office to finalize an investment deal with China. A multilateral approach is necessary to confront China on issues like its abusive labor conditions, unfair and opaque subsidies, forced technology transfers, intellectual property theft, and more,” they said.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., introduced a resolution Jan. 1 that would block a U.S. military sale to Saudi Arabia. The resolution would prohibit the sale of 7,500 “additional full-up-rounds of Paveway IV Weapon Systems” to Saudi Arabia, which was notified to Congress Dec. 22, according to the resolution. The resolution was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The Senate last month voted to reject bipartisan resolutions to block U.S. arms sales to the United Arab Emirates (see 2012100011).

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who said last month he'd be asking for negotiations to begin with Taiwan for a free trade agreement (see 2011190060), is trying to draw attention to the argument. “American workers and manufacturers would have more customers, American consumers would have access to more affordable goods, both economies would grow faster, and America would strengthen its relationship with a key regional ally and increase our economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region” with an FTA with Taiwan, Toomey said in a press release on Dec. 23. Taiwan is the 11th largest trading partner for the U.S., and the bilateral trade supported about 208,000 jobs in the U.S., according to a Commerce Department estimate for 2015, the most recent available. The resolution has 25 Republican co-sponsors.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is concerned that Huawei is evading U.S. export restrictions on semiconductors and ordering them from U.S. companies with the intent to ship them in case those companies are granted export licenses, he said in a Dec. 17 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Rubio asked Ross to provide information on how many individual export licenses Commerce has approved for U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to Huawei and whether it would be legal for U.S. companies to “stockpile” items for eventual export to Huawei pending a licensing decision, or to “receive compensation from Huawei for doing so.” Rubio also asked whether the administration plans to remove Huawei from the Entity List. A Commerce spokesperson pointed to Ross's statement last week, in which he said the U.S. will continue to use Entity List restrictions to prevent China's military from acquiring sensitive semiconductor equipment.

There will be $840 million in emergency appropriations for CBP, in light of its lost fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of many areas where Congress voted to dedicate additional funding through Sept. 30, 2021. The massive omnibus spending bill that passed both chambers late on Dec. 21 also dedicated an additional $10 million for ports of entry technology. The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund will receive $50 million more than in the last fiscal year. It uses 92% of the fees collected for maintenance purposes, an estimated $1.68 billion in all in the current fiscal year.

Congress’s omnibus and COVID-19 relief package includes provisions on export controls and the Export Control Reform Act. Provisions in the spending package require the director of national intelligence to assess the state of U.S. export controls and report on the foreign use of sensitive surveillance technologies. The package, passed Dec. 21, requires the DNI to “complete an assessment” of export controls on artificial intelligence, microchips, advanced manufacturing equipment and “other AI-enabled technologies,” and to identify “opportunities for further cooperation” with U.S. allies. The package also requires the DNI to submit a report on threats posed by foreign governments and entities using “commercially available cyber intrusion and other surveillance technology,” exports that are monitored closely by the Commerce and State Departments (see 2009300056). In addition, the appropriations act for the 2021 fiscal year includes “awards for compensation to informers” of violations under ECRA, but does not specify the amount.

The Border Trade Alliance wants the USMCA “technical corrections” fix to leave the treatment of foreign-trade zones out, it said. BTA said it opposes the change “that would prevent goods manufactured within an FTZ from receiving reduced or duty-free treatment” under the agreement that replaced NAFTA and took effect July 1. “USMCA is a trade agreement for the 21st century, but reinstating an old NAFTA-era rule turns back the clock on U.S. manufacturing competitiveness,” BTA Chair Sergio Contreras said. “In keeping with the goal of modernizing U.S. trade policy under USMCA, products produced within FTZs should qualify for duty-free treatment.” The group thanked the six senators who publicly said they oppose the inclusion of FTZ rule of origin changes in a technical fixes bill.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., says that the new administration should prioritize a free trade deal with the European Union following the template of USMCA, saying President Donald Trump's abandonment of serious trade talks with Europe was a “particularly detrimental blunder.”