Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Katie Britt, R-Ala., claimed victory after the Commerce Department announced it isn't reducing antidumping duties on Vietnamese catfish from $2.39/kg to $0.14/kg (see 2403130061). They and other Southern Republicans had decried the preliminary decision earlier this year (see 2401220029). They said that reduction in duties ignored more than 20 years of precedent in the case, and would "also set a troubling precedent for the approximately 250 [non-market economy] proceedings involving communist governments before the Commerce Department."

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to mark up a bill on March 20 that would direct the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to undertake a study on whether routers and modems designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by Chinese firms, or firms from other adversary countries, are a risk to national security.

More than a quarter of the U.S. Senate asked the U.S. trade representative to push back against the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation, saying the approach presents "significant compliance issues due to its stringency and ambiguity. One specific concern is the traceability requirement. The EUDR imposes a geolocation traceability requirement that mandates sourcing to the individual plot of land for every shipment of timber product to the EU. In the U.S., 42 percent of the wood fiber used by pulp and paper mills comes from wood chips, forest residuals, and sawmill manufacturing residues -- wood sources that cannot be traced back to an individual forest plot."

A House member who is running for the Senate in Indiana asked the Commerce Department to initiate an investigation on the import of electric vehicles and electric vehicle batteries made anywhere in the world.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology voted 21-0 on March 12 to approve a bill that would add Chinese drone company Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) to the FCC's Covered List, thereby prohibiting DJI technology from operating on U.S. communications infrastructure (see 2402200049). The bill, which DJI opposes, now heads to the full committee for its consideration.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., and the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Mike Crapo of Idaho, said the administration shouldn't sign the current version of the international tax agreement, which would allow countries to collect taxes on firms unrelated to their physical presence in their countries. This is part of a two-part process in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development aimed at ending digital services taxes, which target U.S. tech giants.

Twenty-two Republican senators -- including the top Republicans on the Senate Finance and Agriculture committees and one of the front-runners to replace Minority Leader Mitch McConnell -- argue that the "current sharp decline in U.S. agricultural exports is directly attributable to and exacerbated by an unambitious U.S. trade strategy that is failing to meaningfully expand market access or reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade."

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, said March 12 that he's drafting a “tough sanctions bill” to help reduce U.S. reliance on Russian state-owned company Rosatom for nuclear fuel.

Ten senators have introduced a bill to require that the administration reinstate 25% tariffs on Mexican steel imports for at least one year, because they say that Mexico is not honoring the 2019 agreement that lifted Section 232 tariffs on Mexico and Canada. A companion bill was also introduced in the House.

Democrats that represent Michigan and Ohio, where Big 3 automakers' plants are concentrated, are asking that the Section 301 review hike tariffs on Chinese automakers. Section 301 tariffs already apply a 25% tariff, making the total duty for a Chinese auto 27.5%.