Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are asking their colleagues to vote to encourage the administration to negotiate with other countries to lower or eliminate tariffs on pharmaceutical products and medical devices, and the U.S. would do the same. Their bill authorizes these sorts of changes.

The U.S. faces the challenge of "convincing ourselves that it's worth getting back into the game" of negotiating trade agreements that lower tariffs, rather than convincing other countries to do the same, former Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said during a June 28 webinar. "Without the U.S. leading, it's difficult to see expansions of trade," he said, adding that the U.S. is currently seen as uninterested in promoting trade through reducing tariffs.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., objected to a June 22 Senate motion that could have allowed the chamber to expedite procedures for a potential vote on a U.S.-Taiwan trade bill passed by the House a day earlier (see 2306220027). Cotton rejected a unanimous consent request put forward by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., saying the Senate “should not be ramming through such agreements” while lawmakers are still “studying this matter.”

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., introduced a bill designed to improve and modernize trade adjustment assistance programs, including "significantly higher funding levels and expanded eligibility," according to a summary provided by Blumenauer's office.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican who said he was tough on China before more senators got on the bandwagon, said corporate interests and U.S. interests have diverged when it comes to globalization. Rubio, who represents Florida, was speaking at a American Compass event June 21 on Capitol Hill.

Members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party met June 20 in Detroit with the CEOs of Ford and General Motors as well as leading automotive suppliers to discuss their reliance on China in their supply chains.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked the FDA commissioner to justify importing a different formulation of the cancer infusion drug cisplatin that has been approved in the U.S., from Qilu Pharmaceutical in China.

More than 30 members of the House of Representatives cautioned the International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce about their investigations on tin mill products from eight countries, arguing any antidumping duties impose as a result of the investigations could increase costs for downstream U.S. industries and raising U.S. food prices, in a June 12 letter to the chairman of the ITC and the undersecretary of commerce for international trade.

The chairmen of the House Small Business Committee and the House Select Committee on China are asking for a detailed briefing by the end of June on DOJ's efforts to combat Chinese intellectual property theft.

The House of Representatives passed the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act by a 248-180 vote June 13. The bill forbids the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban gas stoves, or enforce any consumer product safety standard or rule on gas stoves that would result in a prohibition on the sale of gas stoves, "or would otherwise substantially increase the average price of gas stoves in the United States."