The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said he doesn't have a good sense of when the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program or the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill could come up for a vote in the House, where the bills must originate. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told International Trade Today during a May 6 press call that Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are engaging about both programs, in the context of a China bill that committee is working on. “I think any discussion at this point is helpful,” he said. Brady said he thinks the two bills could move sooner if they were made a priority in the House, since they have both stood on their own in the past, and have passed under suspension rules or unanimous consent, which means they don't take up significant time on the legislative calendar.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from April 26-30 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Making sure the recent changes to bankruptcy law that affects custom brokers don't expire at the end of the year (see 2012210045) is the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's top priority, lobbyist Martin Whitmer said during a political update at the NCBFAA conference May 5. The group also is closely watching the 21st Century Customs Framework, renewal of the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, ACE funding, forced labor legislation, the infrastructure package and the highway bill. “Trade and freight movement are one of the top topics in D.C. right now,” he said. “Members of Congress want to learn from you.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers has been cautioning its clients not to get their hopes up about a reversal of sections 232 and 301 tariffs with the new administration, and Scott McCandless, a principal in the firm's tax policy services group, also sought to manage expectations for trade policy action in Congress in 2021. McCandless, speaking to a webinar audience April 27, said that while forced labor is a hot issue right now, and CBP “is on a more active footing” on forced labor, he doesn't believe that legislation that would create a rebuttable presumption of forced labor in Xinjiang is going to pass this year. “I doubt that moves forward,” he said.
A witness at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on China and trade competitiveness told senators that if the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and his company's Section 301 exclusion aren't granted retroactively, Element Electronics would be forced to move production out of the U.S.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that Senate Finance Committee members have been seeking a path to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, but have not been able to yet. “There was some talk a week ago about some sort of a deal that might include some extension of that, but there was nothing conclusive on it,” he said. He didn't specify whether he was speaking about MTB, GSP or both, and a trade staffer for the committee and one of his communication staffers did not respond to follow-up questions April 20.
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The top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee said the delay in extending the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and passing a new Miscellaneous Tariff Bill “has real consequences for our businesses and families, especially right now.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said through a spokesperson that he will continue working with House and Senate colleagues “to reauthorize GSP and pass the new MTB bill as soon as possible.” The bills must originate in the House, since they are revenue bills.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from March 29-April 2 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.