The White House launched this year’s budget request process on Feb. 2 (here), including almost $100 million to improve inspection equipment at U.S. ports of entry to help promote trade, said the White House (here). Lawmakers will now have to rally together in the coming months to formulate budget legislation. The proposal also seeks funds for the extension the Generalized System of Preferences and the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The White House also asked for funds to promote European trade integration, in the face of continued Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The U.S. Fashion Industry Association called for the “immediate” renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preferences and tariff preference levels for U.S.-Nicaragua garment trade through the Central American Free Trade Agreement in a Jan. 27 letter to leaders of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees (here). AGOA is due to expire at the end of the current fiscal year, while GSP expired in July 2013 and the CAFTA Nicaragua provisions lapsed on Dec. 31, 2014. USFIA President Julia Hughes also urged for CBP's "speedy implementation" of the apparel, footwear and textile Center of Excellence and Expertise. The group also voiced support for the development of the International Trade Data System.
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, pledged to introduce a Trade Promotion Authority bill in the “next month or two” during a Jan. 30 speech at the American Enterprise Institute (here). The legislation will mostly mirror the TPA bill he, and others, co-sponsored in the last Congress, Hatch said. He championed strong intellectual property, currency and congressional consultation rules in the bill. Hatch also emphasized the need to pass renewal bills for the Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill.
Many Democrats on Capitol Hill are reserving judgment on Trade Promotion Authority, and are still potential supporters of the legislation once it surfaces in the coming days and weeks, John Murphy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce senior vice president for International Policy, told reporters on Jan. 28. Murphy declined to comment on how the whip count is shaping up for TPA support, but he said the trade group is optimistic the bill will pass with bipartisan support.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 19-25:
Despite renewed vigor to tackle Trade Promotion Authority in the 114th Congress, Senate lawmakers continue to negotiate whether to add a number of expired or expiring trade bills to an initial TPA package, senators and lobbyists said over recent days. Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, may still opt to introduce a standalone TPA bill, said those interviewed. Either way, many lawmakers, but primarily Democrats, are poised to muscle a number of amendments onto the bill at some point in the legislative process.
Presidential pressure on Congressional Democrats to support Trade Promotion Authority is critical to moving that legislation in the near future, said Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 20 (here). Hatch spoke hours before President Barack Obama delivered his 2015 State of the Union. The speech focused predominantly on tax reform, another central policy area in the Finance Committee’s jurisdiction, and also touched on healthcare and pension overhaul.
The U.S. needs to lock down the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in order to prevent China from shaping the rules for global trade, said President Barack Obama in his Jan. 20 State of the Union address. Congress needs to first deliver Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to do that, said Obama.
The Obama administration again faulted Bangladesh for insufficient reforms to infrastructure and labor conditions in the country and rejected its bid to rejoin the group of Generalized System of Preferences beneficiaries. Still, Bangladesh is continuously making progress in improving those conditions, said an interagency review led by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. GSP expired in June 2013, but many lawmakers and industry representatives are jockeying to advance a renewal bill in the first months of this Congress (see 1501130001).
Democratic senators may be angling to tack antidumping and countervailing duty (CV/DVD) enforcement provisions on a Trade Promotion Authority bill that's expected to surface in the coming weeks, lawmakers and industry lobbyists said. Those provisions may not make the cut in an initial TPA package or through the amendment process though, nor are they guaranteed to attract more Democratic votes for the TPA measure, said those interviewed.