The top two lawmakers on the House Select Committee on China criticized Beijing’s decision last month to suspend imports of Japanese seafood, saying the trade restrictions are “unacceptable and must be reversed.” China suspended the imports in response to Japan's release of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean stemming from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant incident following a tsunami (see 2308220022).
The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Reforming the Generalized System of Preferences to Safeguard U.S. Supply Chains and Combat China" on Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. EDT. Witnesses have not yet been announced.
It's not realistic to believe Canada, Mexico and the U.S. would be ready to admit more members to the USMCA before their presidential contests in 2024 or Canada's parliamentary elections in 2025, panelists said at a program hosted by the Council of the Americas. But Juan Carlos Baker, Mexico's former chief negotiator for the NAFTA successor, said the six-year review in 2026 would be a perfect time to make accession a possibility.
Correction: Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is expected to be an original co-sponsor of the Customs Business Fairness Act, along with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. (See 2309060049).
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., back in the Capitol after the August break, told International Trade Today that he'll "have more to say about" his committee's investigation on forced labor in auto supply chains "before too long."
A recent Congressional Research Service report on U.S.-Mexican trade relations noted that members of Congress have varying views on USMCA, the trade deal that has integrated North American supply chains, particularly in the auto industry.
The chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with 25 other Republicans, is asking Ford's CEO to explain its arrangement with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) to build batteries for electric vehicles in Michigan.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., a pharmacist, and seven others of the 14 House members representing Georgia are asking the FDA how it is ensuring that chemotherapy drugs that are imported meet safety standards, given that Qilu Pharmaceuticals is not FDA-approved. FDA turned to Qilu for cisplatin after Intas Pharmaceuticals in India was shut down for contamination prevention issues. It had been supplying about half of U.S. cisplatin.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., introduced a bill this week to reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, but unlike an earlier House bill (see 2308070018), his bill says the labeling must be in compliance with World Trade Organization rules.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that she should not intervene in professional staff's determination of whether antidumping and countervailing duties -- they range from 43% to 294% -- should be imposed on imported tin mill steel products, used in making cans for packaging food.