Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai that they do not want the World Trade Organization Appellate Body to be resurrected. The WTO no longer has binding dispute settlement, because members can appeal into the void if they do not like the results of a case in Geneva.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., recently introduced a bill that would impose a 20% tax on all revenues of an importer that imports more than 100 "semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices." The bill has only one co-sponsor, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who as an at-large representative from Washington, D.C., is not allowed to vote on the floor of the House. Maloney lost her primary in August, and will not return to Congress in January.
A House bill sponsored by six Hispanic members of Congress, from both parties, calls on the U.S. to strengthen its trade relationship with Ecuador, but the text, published Aug. 25, makes no mention of lowering tariffs for Ecuadoran imports or reference to a traditional free trade agreement.
A bill that would require 20% of all imported seafood to be tested and also require testing for the first 15 shipments from new seafood exporters was introduced by Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La. The Imported Seafood Safety Standards Act, introduced Aug. 19, has no co-sponsors; it is quite similar to a bill Higgins introduced in February with one Democratic co-sponsor. It is also the same as a bill Higgins introduced in 2018 (see 1806280011).
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a bill that would end user fee requirements at airports that are primary airports, not more than 30 miles from the northern or southern land border, and that have a formal legal instrument linking the airport to a land border crossing or a seaport within 30 miles -- and designate them as official ports of entry. Cruz called the bill the Border Airport Fairness Act; the text was published Aug. 19. There are no bill co-sponsors.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, urged the commerce secretary to talk to First Solar, which is headquartered in his state, before finalizing the rule to temporarily waive duties or deposit collection on imported solar panels and cells from Southeast Asia. Auxin Solar, a small solar panel producer, is asking Commerce to find that those panels are really Chinese in origin, and should be subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders against Chinese solar products.
A day before the House is expected to pass a bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, that includes electric vehicle tax credits with strings attached for sourcing and assembly, activists and analysts are reacting to European Union's argument that the EV tax credit violates World Trade Organization rules.
The climate, healthcare and tax bill called the Inflation Reduction Act did not change the terms of an electric vehicle tax credit, even after fierce lobbying by automakers (see 2208040045).
The electric vehicle tax credit provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act rest not just on North American vehicle assembly -- but also on critical mineral supply chains that don't exist yet and high North American battery content. Because the provisions are aimed at incentivizing new plants, automakers are lobbying for the phase-in to be more gradual.
Learn from the lessons of the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership, warned trade skeptics Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, in a letter they and other signatories released publicly Aug. 2. They said binding commitments in either the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, or reached with Latin American partners, are not legal without congressional say-so. "The administration’s many public declarations about the proposed IPEF process seem to indicate that it plans to negotiate a binding agreement while circumventing congressional input, authority, and approval," they wrote.