A coalition of 25 businesses sent a letter (here) to the four top appropriators across the House and Senate urging them to retain previously introduced provisions to expand CBP preclearance facilities at land, marine, air and rail ports of departure in Canada, in the final fiscal 2017 appropriations package. In the Nov. 18 letter, the associations representing “millions of businesses” called on Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., and Ranking Member Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., to work to ensure inclusion of the preclearance provisions outlined in Senate appropriators’ pending fiscal 2017 Department of Homeland Security spending bill in any final funding legislation.

China’s regular failures to uphold its World Trade Organization commitments, cut industrial overcapacity and treat U.S. companies fairly are straining its relationship with the U.S., according to the executive summary of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s annual report to Congress released this month (here). Furthermore, the U.S. goods trade deficit with China grew 6.5 percent in 2015, to a record $367.2 billion, but that deficit was $225 billion through the first eight months of 2016, because of fewer imports, the report says. “U.S. companies are finding it increasingly difficult to operate in China, citing unclear laws and inconsistent regulatory enforcement, policies that favor domestic competitors, and industrial overcapacity,” the report said. The Chinese government’s “supply-side structural reform” focus hasn’t translated into actual results, as the private sector has struggled to secure credit and government stimulus benefits have largely flowed to the state sector, the report said.

The House of Representatives on Nov. 17 voted to pass H.R. 5711, a bill that would prohibit the Treasury secretary from authorizing a transaction by a public or private U.S. financial institution for the export or re-export of commercial passenger aircraft to Iran. The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration. President Barack Obama said he plans to veto the bill (see 1611150036).

The House of Representatives on Nov. 17 voted to pass the “Midnight Rules Relief Act,” which would allow Congress to disapprove of "midnight rules" -- regulations issued during the final 60 congressional legislative days during a president's term -- at a rate of several at a time, pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, rather than one by one as directed under current law. The legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration. President Barack Obama said he plans to veto the bill (see 1611160020).

The House of Representatives on Nov. 15 passed H.R. 5732, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (here), which would require the president to level sanctions on anyone who conducts business with transportation or telecom sectors controlled by the government of Syria, or with the government itself; provides aircraft or spare parts to Syria’s airlines, including financing; or supports Syria’s energy industry. Should the government of Syria engage in “meaningful negotiations” or if violence against civilians stops, the legislation would allow the president to suspend sanctions, according to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (here).

The House of Representatives on Nov. 15 voted to pass H.R. 6297, the Iran Sanctions Extension Act (here), which would reauthorize the primary Iran sanctions rolled back by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which are set to expire at the end of this year. The bill, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, would ensure that the U.S. could bring back sanctions on Iran if the nation breaks its JCPOA obligations. “If we let the clock run out on the Iran Sanctions Act, Congress will take away an important tool to keep Tehran in check,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., the bill’s sponsor (here). “And that, in turn, will only further jeopardize America’s national security.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called for President-elect Donald Trump to follow through on his pledge to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, overhaul the U.S. trade relationship with China and utilize countervailing duty trade cases to investigate foreign currency manipulation claimed by U.S. petitioners, in a Nov. 16 letter (here). Specifically, Brown urged Trump to endeavor to renegotiate China’s Accession Protocol to the World Trade Organization after the nation violated several WTO rules that also hurt U.S. jobs, to pursue WTO cases against unfair Chinese steel and aluminum trading practices, and to maintain the U.S.’s designation of China as a non-market economy for antidumping purposes.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. and all other House committee chairs on Nov. 15 sent a letter to government agencies urging them to not finalize any new regulations between now and the end of the Obama administration. “It’s now time to change the tide to get the economy moving,” McCarthy said during a press conference (here). The letter warns that lawmakers will scrutinize any regulations issued before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, adding that Congress could overturn them pursuant to the Congressional Review Act (CRA) “if appropriate.” By refraining from “acting with undue haste,” the administration can ensure that agency staff will fully assess the costs and benefits of rules and can decrease the likelihood of unintended consequences harming consumers and businesses, the lawmakers said.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, on Nov. 14 called for president-elect Donald Trump to make good on his campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA within his first 100 days in office and plans to “hold Trump accountable” for following through, he said in a statement (here). An amended NAFTA should erase investor-state dispute settlement, rewrite automobile and steel rules of origin, and make “sure all companies and countries are on a level playing-field so corporations don’t have incentive to ship jobs to Mexico in order to pay workers less,” Brown said in a statement. Brown opposed NAFTA in 1993 and the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2005.