Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:

President Barack Obama should renew the ban on imported military-style firearms fully manufactured abroad and those imported as parts, said more than 80 Democratic House lawmakers in an April 9 letter. The import ban, which expired under the George W. Bush administration, should also include newly developed AK-type pistols that incorporate the firepower of a rifle, said the letter. The lawmakers urged action from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, including the following:

The Senate confirmed on April 9 Wanda Felton for a second term as Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank first vice president with a 75-21 roll call. The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee approved the nomination in October 31 (see 13110124). The current Ex-Im Bank authorization expires in September (see 14032526).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership could remove some Canadian dairy tariffs that range from 250 to 300 percent, and also non-tariff barriers, said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sandy Levin, D-Mich., in an April 9 speech at the Center for American Progress. U.S. auto producers could also benefit from the elimination of the 35 percent tariff Malaysia imposes, said Levin. Congress should now prioritize TPP negotiations over Trade Promotion Authority, said Levin, because Congress is not adequately engaged in trade negotiations in the current trade policy framework.

The Financial Services and General Government appropriation legislation for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) should designate “sufficient” funding for the State Trade Export Promotion (STEP) program in order to continue to help small businesses, said Reps. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., in a recent letter. Eighteen other lawmakers endorsed the letter sent to Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Financial Services leadership. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 appropriated $8 million for the STEP program in FY14 (here). The Small Business Administration (SBA) authorized states to grant up to $30 million a year, according to the SBA (here). The STEP program was initially passed into law in 2010. “All 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. Territories qualify to apply for STEP grant awards. In the first two years of the program, 3,737 small businesses were assisted through the program,” said the letter. “Many states have effectively leveraged program resources resulting in a return on investment for the majority of states of $10 to $1. In fact, six states had a return of investment of $20 to $1.”

House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security Chairwoman Candice Miller, R-Mich., intends in the “near future” to hold markups on CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorization legislation, she said in an April 8 hearing. The CBP Authorization Act, HR-3846 (here), and ICE Authorization Act, H.R. 4279 (here), would give the first formal congressional authorizations to the two agencies.

The European Union is trying to impose geographical indication (GI) restrictions on meat products that would inhibit U.S. exports, said nearly half of the U.S. Senate in a recent letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. The Obama administration must scale back the restrictions, particularly with those countries that the U.S. has free trade pacts with or is negotiating an agreement, through the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), said the April 4 letter. “In country after country, the EU has been using its FTAs to persuade trading partners to impose barriers to U.S. exports under the guise of protecting GIs,” said the letter. “For example, as part of their recently implemented FTA with the EU, countries in Central America agreed to impose new restrictions on the use of 'bologna,' effectively closing an export opportunity that the U.S.-Central America FTA opened for U.S. companies.”

Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:

The Mexican government’s direct subsidization and investment in the sugar industry has caused a sharp rise in U.S. imports of dumped sugar, while weakening U.S. sugar prices, said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in a recent letter to U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) Chairman Irving Williamson. Landrieu said she supports a domestic sugar industry coalition's March 28 request for new antidumping and countervailing duties on sugar from Mexico (see 14033124). “Sugar dumping negatively affects thousands of hard working Louisiana farmers and tens of thousands more across the country,” said Landrieu. “These illegal practices by Mexico inadvertently harm the United States sugar industry and must be stopped.”

Reps. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., William Keating, D-Mass., Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Todd Young, R-Ind., formally launched the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) caucus in recent days, staff for the lawmakers confirmed. "I have always believed that strengthening the ties between the United States and the European Union makes good sense," said Neal in a press release. "A comprehensive trade and investment partnership with the 27 nations that make up the European Union will increase the export of U.S. goods and services abroad and create new jobs here at home. Bringing down existing trade barriers will allow U.S. manufactures to sell more of their products to the 500 million people who current live in the EU." Staff members for the representatives did not comment on the priorities the caucus intends to push in TTIP negotiations. The U.S. is continuing to press for comprehensive elimination of tariffs on textiles and apparel and agricultural products in TTIP (see 14031101).