Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Chris Coons, D-Del, laid out parameters of a trade package they hope to get passed in the next three weeks in Congress.
Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., introduced a bill that would refund tariffs on imports that were hit with 25% tariffs during the Airbus-Boeing dispute, and also would prevent tariffs from being applied to goods on the water in the future.
Lawmakers applauded a recently approved Federal Communications Commission order that bars the importation and sale of any new telecommunications equipment listed on the FCC’s “Covered List,” which currently includes products from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and two colleagues introduced a bill that would extend normal trade relations for exports from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Although Kazakhstan and Tajikistan are members of the World Trade Organization, they still have temporary normal trade relations with the U.S. The countries have had temporary NTR since the early 1990s, after the Soviet Union broke up.
A report from Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee in Congress said that while the Federal Reserve is doing the right thing to drive down inflation, Congress should act to remove Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, and Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. "These 2018-2020 era tariffs are currently in effect on $280 billion of U.S. imports, imposing a $50 billion annual cost burden on U.S. producers and consumers that use imported goods. Estimates suggest that removing recently imposed tariffs on imports from China, steel and aluminum imports, and Canadian lumber imports could deliver a one-time inflation reduction of 1.3 percentage point," the report said. There is no mechanism for Congress to roll back the softwood lumber duties, as they are antidumping and countervailing duties. However, the U.S. used to lower the trade remedies when the cost of lumber rose above certain thresholds.
The Congressional Sugar Caucus, led by Reps. Garret Graves, R-La., Dan Kildee, D-Mich., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, are asking the Agriculture Department and Commerce Department not to increase tariff rate quotas or allow Mexico to export more sugar to the U.S. during the current marketing year.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is asking why tariffs on aluminum seem to be permanent fixtures at the same time that there's a pause on potential anti-circumvention duties on Southeast Asian solar panels.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and one of the three Republicans vying to replace him after he retires, asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to "preserve all documents and communications in your custody relating to the Administration’s decision to agree to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS waiver) that was adopted on June 17, 2022."
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. David Trone, D-Md., both of whom serve on the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, complained that widespread waivers for Advanced Electronic Data for mail coming to the U.S. "undermine efforts to identify packages containing fentanyl or other illegal substances and stop them from entering the United States." Expanding AED to mail, not just express shipments, was central to the STOP Act.
The U.S. trade representative should reject the Florida congressional delegation's Section 301 petition regarding Mexican produce imports, argued Iowa's two senators, as well as Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.