The Senate Finance Committee’s failure to reach a bipartisan deal on trade continues to push back introduction of Trade Promotion Authority, but the Senate can still float a bill, debate it and send it over to the House by early April, said Jeff Schott, senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Schott discussed the issue during a March 3 conference call. Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently criticized a Finance Committee hearing planned for Feb. 26, and committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, ultimately postponed it (see 1502250075).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 23 - March 1:
Renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences is “low-hanging fruit” on the 2015 U.S. trade agenda and lawmakers should put the preference program, with a retroactive provision, back into law immediately, said more than 600 companies and trade organizations in a Feb. 23 letter (here). “Please do not delay renewal any longer,” said the letter, addressed to congressional leaders of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees. “The mounting costs and uncertainty surrounding when GSP might be renewed have had a chilling effect on our ability to grow and compete in the global marketplace.” Renewal will immediately boost U.S. economic growth and competitiveness, said the letter. GSP expired at the end of July 2013.
Lawmakers and stakeholders are trying to hammer out a solution to move forward with Miscellaneous Tariff Bill renewal, but Capitol Hill isn't showing public signs of nearing a deal to address controversy over whether an MTB would violate a ban on earmarks, trade lawyers and lobbyists said in recent days. The lack of concrete new MTB reform proposals that could make it more palatable to Republicans may bode poorly for making big changes to the MTB process as a whole in the 114th Congress, said some lobbyists.
U.S. free trade agreements are giving U.S. producers and consumers far easier access to global inputs as well as foreign markets, and the U.S. must stay committed to closing the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade pacts, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a trade report released on Feb. 12 (here). U.S. FTAs are integrating U.S. industry into a global supply chain, while boosting domestic manufacturing, said the report. U.S. agriculture is also reaping the benefits of U.S. FTAs through increasing exports abroad, the chamber said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 2-6 in case they were missed.
Lawmakers introduced the following trade-related bills since International Trade Today's last legislative update:
As Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., takes on his second month as House Ways and Means chairman, his top priority is wrapping up talks on free trade agreements and putting those pacts into force, Ryan said in a Feb. 5 speech at the Washington International Trade Association. Ryan urged countries involved in Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations to either meet U.S. expectations for trade barrier removals or join the talks at a later time, a statement couched in criticism toward both Canadian and Japanese reluctance to slash agricultural duties and regulatory restrictions.
A bipartisan group of senators and two Republican House members introduced legislation on Feb. 3 to expand Generalized System of Preferences coverage to luggage and other travel goods. The GSP Update for Production Diversification and Trade Enhancement Act (GSP UPDATE Act) would allow U.S. companies to import duty-free a wide range of products, from some trunks and suitcases to products that fit in handbags, by carving out more than two dozen tariff lines in the harmonized schedule.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 26 - Feb. 1: