Leaders of the generally pro-trade New Democrat Coalition warned the U.S. trade representative not to send an implementing bill for the new NAFTA to Congress on July 9. Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Dems, and Rep. Gregory Meeks, co-chairman of the group's trade task force, spoke to reporters July 8 about why they sent a letter that day to USTR warning him off.

A bipartisan effort to reduce fentanyl trafficking passed the Senate June 27 on the must-pass defense authorization bill. The amendment would dedicate some money for investigations into which Chinese companies are supplying fentanyl to the U.S. black market. It also requires sanctions on drug manufacturers in China that knowingly provide synthetic opioids to dealers, and would sanction financial institutions that assist those manufacturers or international drug cartels. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's staff could not say by press time how much money would be appropriated.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., plans to introduce a bill that would increase export controls on additional goods deemed by China to be “core technologies,” and impose sanctions on foreign entities or people who violate those controls, according to a "dear colleague" letter Green sent June 26 to solicit co-sponsors. The bill, which he calls the China Technology Transfer Control Act, would “stop the Chinese military’s acquisition of sensitive American technology,” the letter said. “We should not continue to let China steal American property, only for them to turn around and use it to undermine our national security.”

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations advanced a bill on June 25 that would repeal the ban on all exports to Cyprus that fall on the U.S. Munitions List. The change would prohibit the State Department from denying exports, re-exports or transfers of defense items and services to Cyprus as long as Cyprus is the end-user, the bill states. The repeal would advance U.S. “security interests” in Europe by helping Cyprus reduce its dependence on “other countries” for defense products, including countries that “pose challenges” to the U.S., the bill said. The change comes as part of a larger bill that would require the State Department to submit reports to Congress on Russian interference in Cyprus, Greece and Israel. The bill would also call on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Turkey and Russia if Turkey carries out its plan to buy an S-400 air defense system from Russia.

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer said he thinks the House could be able to have a vote in the fall on the new NAFTA. Blumenauer, from Oregon and one of nine House Democrats who are tasked with negotiating changes to the deal with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, said he expects the group will meet with USTR "at least once a week." Speaking at a Washington International Trade Association event June 26, he joked that Lighthizer spends so much time meeting with House members and caucuses, "I think he travels the world just to get away from us." Lighthizer is on his way to Osaka, Japan, for the G-20 meeting. He met with the working group the afternoon before he left.

NAFTA foe Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who is on the working group seeking changes to the NAFTA replacement, joined with the president of the AFL-CIO, the head of Global Trade Watch, and a handful of progressive House members to say that Americans are demanding that the biologics exclusivity period be dropped from the trade deal.

House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said after a June 25 hearing on Mexican labor reform that the Democrats asking for changes to the NAFTA rewrite are asking for changes that are "relatively narrow." "Our hope is we can move with dispatch, get our concerns resolved, strengthen the agreement and move forward," he said, adding that trade deal votes "never get easy, putting them off."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced a bill on June 25 that would limit the ability of the executive branch to bypass congressional approval of foreign arms sales. The bill, called the Saudi Arabia False Emergencies Act, had bipartisan support and was advanced less than a week after the Senate voted to block billions of dollars worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that the Trump administration had announced May 24 (see 1906200052). The administration had used an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act to skip congressional approval.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 20 advanced a bill that would impose sanctions on Burmese officials and military-owned entities, for human rights abuses. The bill, named the Burma Act of 2019, would also sanction current and former senior officials of the Burmese military -- and any entities they own -- who took “significant steps to impede investigations or prosecutions of alleged serious human rights abuses.” The bill would also sanction entities, such as the Myanmar Economic Cooperation or the Myanmar Economic Holding Corporation, that are controlled by Burmese security forces. The sanctions would take effect for an eight-year period beginning 270 days after the bill is enacted. The bill next heads to the House floor.

Senators on June 20 voted to block the sale of billions of dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after weeks of criticism from bipartisan members of Congress. The sale, originally announced by the Trump administration on May 24, used an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act to allow the State Department to bypass congressional approval and certify 22 arms transfers to the Middle East. But Democratic and Republican members in both the House and Senate criticized the move, saying it was a misuse of executive power (see 1906120066).