Four Republican representatives on April 12 pushed back as the Biden administration seems poised to reverse a decision by then-President Donald Trump that required products made in certain parts of the West Bank to be labeled as “Made in Israel.”

The two top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on China on April 16 asked the State Department to “intensify and elevate its global diplomatic efforts” to ensure the EU passes an agreement to ban imports of goods made with forced labor.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testified April 16 before the House Ways and Means Committee regarding the Biden administration’s trade policy agenda for 2024. She expressed support for upcoming legislation to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and to close the de minimis imports loophole (see 2404160029), and she detailed some of the administration’s values and aims for the upcoming year. “Our approach is one that addresses and advances the interests of all parts of our economy and does not pit Americans against Americans,” she said.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to President Joe Biden April 15 regarding the “urgent threat” posed by the Chinese retail application Temu, an app that has been seeking to nudge its way into a market still dominated by Amazon.

Congress should approve tougher sanctions and import restrictions to stem the deadly and illegal flow of fentanyl into the U.S., the House Select Committee on China said in a new report April 16.

Ahead of congressional hearings featuring U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president said on an April 15 press call that his organization is concerned about the “laissez faire” approach he said the Biden administration has been taking in negotiating against foreign trade barriers and enforcing existing U.S. trade agreements.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wrote to President Joe Biden saying that he should "take bold, aggressive action and to permanently ban" electric vehicles "produced by Chinese companies or whatever subsidiaries they establish to conceal their origins."

Five members of House Ways and Means Committee and the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific introduced a bill that would set up an ‘‘Indo-Pacific Trade Strategy Commission’’ to make recommendations to Congress on a comprehensive trade policy in the region, and direct the International Trade Commission to produce a report on how the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade agreement and China's Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership multilateral free trade agreement affect U.S. exports and growth opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. The report also would address differences between the TPP successor, RCEP, and the USMCA, and the impact of Asian regional trade agreements on U.S. supply chain resiliency, and how they affect China's role in key global supply chains.

Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich, joined by four other Michigan Democrats, two Indiana Democrats and Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., whose district includes a major Mercedes plant, asked the Biden administration to prevent Chinese cars from entering the U.S.

A bill requiring a study on gender bias and regressive effects of the U.S. tariff system was introduced April 10, and has been endorsed by the New Democrat Coalition Trade Task Force, which is led by one of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas.