Two members of the House Ways and Means Committee have introduced a bill to clarify who is allowed to bring a patent case at the International Trade Commission, and to change the practice of allowing a litigant to force a company to participate in a Section 337 case by subpoena. "[S]ignificant ITC resources are wasted on unnecessary and costly patent litigation that has nothing to do with protecting U.S. industry and American jobs from unfair foreign competition," a summary of the bill says. The bill also would require ITC officials to affirmatively determine that a Section 337 exclusion order is in the public interest.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters on a press call that his constituents are saying they're concerned there is a "lack of a trade agenda in this administration." He said that in the months since Katherine Tai was confirmed as U.S. trade representative, "I haven't seen any movement on trade agreements."

Seven Republican senators, led by Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to restart negotiations with Kenya begun in the last administration, with a goal of signing a free trade agreement. They sent a letter Aug. 20 that argued that a free trade agreement "would build on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of 2000, which expires in 2025. ... A U.S.-Kenya FTA would strengthen trade and commercial ties at a time when China and Russia are seeking economic influence across the African continent. The U.S. would ultimately be able to further promote human rights, the rule of law, economic development and positive relations with Kenya and Africa through a FTA."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., introduced a bill this month, the Rewarding Efforts to Decrease Unrecycled Contaminants in Ecosystems (REDUCE) Act, that would impose a 10 cents-per-pound excise tax on virgin plastic resin produced domestically and imported. Exported resin would be exempt.

The American Association of Exporters and Importers said the country needs a properly confirmed leader at CPB, and is asking the Senate Finance Committee to take up the nomination of Chris Magnus for commissioner when the Senate returns in September. "Through the Covid pandemic and the start of the economic recovery, this critical leadership position has been left open for more than two years," the group said. AAEI said Magnus met with its CEO and board chair, and they were impressed with his experience solving complex issues.

Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee and an advocate for free trade, announced that he will not run for re-election. Kind has served in the House of Representatives for 26 years, representing a largely rural district in Wisconsin. "I always tried to make decisions that I thought were in the best interest of the people at home here and not for powerful special interests or the political leadership of either party," Kind said during his retirement speech. Kind was one of the founding members of the New Democrat Coalition, a centrist House group that promotes fiscal responsibility and economic growth.

More than a third of Republican senators are telling President Joe Biden that the European Union's plan to apply tariffs to aluminum, cement, fertilizers, iron and steel from countries that are not pricing carbon as the EU does is protectionism in disguise. They noted that U.S. steel is already more carbon efficient than the product is in the EU.

The American Association of Port Authorities is thanking the Senate for the $2.25 billion dedicated to the Port Infrastructure Development Program, but in a letter it made public on Aug. 6, it says PIDP needs another $10 billion over five years.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is asking its members to lobby their representatives to ask for a permanent fix to bankruptcy law that used to require brokers to return money that they had forwarded to CBP on behalf of clients if those clients declared bankruptcy within 90 days of those payments. There is a temporary fix to this clawback issue, but it will expire on Dec. 27 if a law with a permanent fix is not passed before then. The NCBFAA says, "Every day we hear in the news of companies filing bankruptcy due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and many of those companies are importers."

While grain-oriented electrical steel is subject to Section 232 tariffs, the domestic GOES producer says that electrical steel laminations and cores produced in Mexico and Canada continue to imperil the jobs at their mills. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., represent the workers at those mills, and they, along with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., have proposed an amendment to the bipartisan infrastructure bill that would instruct the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to negotiate with Canada and Mexico in order to get them to agree to measures curtailing their exports if they are so numerous that they damage the business of Cleveland-Cliffs.