The White House's funding request to Congress to send military aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, and humanitarian aid to Gaza, also includes provisions for spending more at the U.S.-Mexico border. It proposes $849 million to procure and deploy "additional non-intrusive inspection systems on the Southwest border to detect and counter illicit drug activity and human trafficking."

Members of Congress, since they have raised concerns about how administration actions to strike critical minerals deals overrode their trade authority and undermined the intent of the Inflation Reduction Act, may want to consider either passing trade promotion authority that addresses the issue, or passing more laws like the one regarding the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service suggested.

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., one of the less hawkish members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, bemoaned the fact that the original title of the committee, which talked about strategic competition, has been forgotten.

House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., led a bipartisan letter signed by a dozen other House members asking National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Richard Spinrad to "strongly consider enforcing trade restrictions against the PRC on specific seafood products tainted by forced labor," such as tuna and squid. China's government has the right to 90 days of consultations on the issue before the administration imposes trade restrictions.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he spoke candidly with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a trip to Shanghai, saying China needs to stop unfair treatment of U.S. firms with operations in China.

The Senate Finance Committee's chairman and its top Republican jointly told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that she must make clear that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will immediately respond to Canada enacting any sort of digital services tax, "using available trade tools." Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, wrote that in italics, for emphasis. "When you take these steps, you will do so with our full support," the two wrote Oct. 10.

Senators from Kansas, Arkansas and Tennessee and seven Republican House members from Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, North Carolina and South Dakota are asking the Commerce Department to reevaluate its data set in the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on phosphate fertilizer from Russia.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is asking the Biden administration to strengthen the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP), concerned that the aim has moved from an on-paper agreement to a mere forum.

Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., want the Biden administration to hike the tariff on ferrosilicon produced in Russia or Belarus to 35%, and introduced a bill that directs it to do so. Tariffs can be changed for those countries because the U.S. ended normal trading relations with them because Russia, with Belarus' support, invaded Ukraine.

Ten members of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, led by Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., are questioning the proportion of electronics shipments that have been released under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), after importers provided CBP with clear and convincing evidence that their supply chains had no Xinjiang links.