A note to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule specifies that, in order to qualify as water resistant, goods must both meet a water seepage standard and incorporate either rubber or plastics. Maine's two U.S. senators recently introduced a bill that would drop the clause on plastics and rubber that is part of the additional note to Chapter 62.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said that he and Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have not delved into details about what they might keep and what they might drop from the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act trade title as the Senate tries for a second China competition bill. But, Crapo said, with regard to the Section 301 exclusion process directive that was part of the June 2021 package, it may not be on the agenda.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The inability of CBP to stop all goods made with Uyghur forced labor was one of the focuses of a trade hearing hosted on Staten Island by the House Ways and Means Committee, and when committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., asked a witness what more could be done to crack down, Uyghur activist Nury Turkel said the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act should be expanded to cover all of China.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he'll use the 2021 trade title from the Senate China package as his committee works on its contribution to a second China package envisioned by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to address economic competition with China and to deter Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.
The fact that no one responded to comments during a recent field hearing about the expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program doesn't mean Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee don't care about GSP, House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said.
The effect of benefits like Medicaid and child tax credits on worker supply were hotly debated at a field hearing convened by the House Ways and Means Committee in Peachtree City, Georgia, and there were many questions to business owner witnesses about the challenges of expiring tax provisions in the Trump tax cuts and about how inflation is affecting their profits and sales.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's leaders have introduced a bill to add Ecuador to the list of beneficiaries of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, reducing tariffs on nearly 50% of Ecuador's exports to the U.S.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said "there could be" movement on the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, now expired more than two years, "but I think it has to be part of a broader trade agreement."