The leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific are trying to pass legislation to give the president the ability to respond to economic coercion of allies, but Chair Young Kim, R-Calif., asked witnesses at a subcommittee hearing she convened to advise what else could be done to stand up to China's economic aggression.
Senate Finance International Trade Subcommittee Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del., said he would like to hold a future hearing on the Americas Act, a proposal from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to liberalize trade with Central American, Caribbean and South American countries (see 2301110045 and 2301130042), and to pay for grants and subsidized loans for countries reshoring or nearshoring out of China with changes to de minimis law. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is a co-sponsor of the bill.
Ahead of a Senate Finance Committee International Trade Subcommittee hearing on how to encourage more integration of the U.S. and the Central and South American economies, 38 House members, from both parties, wrote Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, asking that she not make it easier for apparel manufacturers to win exceptions to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement's yarn-forward rules of origin.
Former chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Gregg Doud called for the use of the new enforcement mechanism in the USMCA during a House Agriculture Committee hearing May 11.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote to CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, arguing that since a Chinese-owned cobalt mining company is partnering with Ford and PT Vale Indonesia to open a nickel processing facility in Indonesia, "there is a high likelihood that Huayou will also introduce forced and child labor to Indonesia."
The Americas Act, a draft bill that would expand free trade benefits to more Latin American countries while also only offering de minimis at reciprocal levels (see 2301110045), has gained a Democratic co-sponsor, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
The chairman and ranking member of the House Select Committee on China wrote to Adidas and Nike, telling them they were told by a witness that they source material from Xinjiang for their products, and to Shein and Temu, asking them questions about their use of de minimis, and, in the case of Shein, asking it to share all its cotton DNA test results with the committee.
Congress should amend shipping regulations to give the Federal Maritime Commission jurisdiction over certain fees assessed by railroads under ocean bills of lading, more than 70 trade groups, including the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, said in a May 2 letter to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The groups said those charges should be billed through the contracting carrier and be subject to demurrage and detention invoicing requirements that were included as part of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is asking the State Department to warn Uganda's president that if he signs a bill that discriminates against gay and lesbian citizens, his country's participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act will be revoked.
Three senators asked Shein's CEO if the company's suppliers use cotton from Xinjiang, if they use laboratory testing to ensure there is no Xinjiang cotton in its garments, and other questions aimed at learning whether apparel made in part with forced labor is making it into the U.S. through the de minimis importation lane (see 2302090039).