The House of Representatives did not have the votes to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Feb. 6. However, the Republican majority may try again when Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is back in Washington. He is undergoing treatment for cancer and was not there for the vote.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., along with Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and two California Democrats, announced they are launching a caucus to push for boosting agricultural exports and knocking down trade barriers in ag.
Both of Georgia's senators, plus Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., urged the Biden administration to raise Section 301 tariffs on Chinese solar panels, cells and wafers. They said a Chinese panel costs more than 60% less than U.S.-made panels.
In a party-line vote, the House Homeland Security Committee voted to advance articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Customs lawyer Ted Murphy, remarking on the nine-page letter from the House Select Committee on China regarding Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and other customs issues (see 2401220005), said firms should be aware that enforcement of laws that affect trade with China is a top priority.
Members of the National Retail Federation are seeing a rise in freight rates and ocean carrier transportation costs and want to make sure that those new fees and surcharges "actually cover real costs and are not intended for profit," Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president of supply chain and customs policy, told Congress this week.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and two dozen other Democrats, told Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that it's clear that Vietnam doesn't meet the criteria in law to qualify as a market economy -- and that if the agency were to classify it that way, the way that status that would affect 25 antidumping and countervailing duty orders would threaten American workers.
Eight senators, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that "there is abundant evidence" to suggest that Vietnam has not met legal conditions for market economy status.
Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and John Garamendi, D-Calif., urged the Federal Maritime Commission on Jan. 26 to finalize its proposed rule on demurrage and detention billing requirements “as expeditiously as possible.”
Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced he will oppose the nomination of Nelson Cunningham, founder of McLarty Associates, as deputy U.S. trade representative. He pointed to Cunningham's advocacy for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and his firm's lobbying for a Chinese firm that makes glass in Moraine, Ohio, outside Dayton. That firm settled a case in 2018 with the National Labor Relations Board, which alleged it fired three workers who tried to get their colleagues to vote for United Autoworkers representation at the plant. The vote failed 2-1 in 2017.