Senate Democrats' Trade Blueprint Would Create ITC Independent Trade Prosecutor Position
Senate Democrats released a trade policy initiative that includes creating an “independent trade prosecutor” position in the International Trade Commission and more transparency for Office of U.S. Trade Representative advisory committees. According to a blueprint on the policy, the ITC trade prosecutor would be responsible for evaluating potential trade violations under “strict timelines,” and could bring cases related to labor, the environment, subsidies causing overcapacity, agricultural trade barriers and cyber espionage used for stealing intellectual property. Violating foreign countries that don’t agree to change course would face potential restrictions to U.S. market access “in proportion with a U.S. company’s losses or the foreign company’s unfair advantage, without authorization” by the World Trade Organization, the blueprint, “A Better Deal on Trade and Jobs,” reads.
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The trade prosecutor would be able to review WTO decisions impacting U.S. trade enforcement laws to determine whether rulings are consistent with U.S. WTO obligations, and “to what extent the U.S. should comply with the WTO decision,” the blueprint says. The prosecutor would collaborate with the Labor, Agriculture and Commerce departments on trade actions. U.S. actions to address “trade cheating” often falls under the narrow confines of the WTO or free trade agreements, which take many years to resolve, and the WTO and other international bodies don’t adequately check “pervasive trade cheats like China,” the blueprint says. “WTO decisions have eroded a number of U.S. trade enforcement tools.”
The Democrats’ blueprint also calls for USTR to hold public NAFTA town halls in at least 10 different states before draft text can be finalized, and to publish all NAFTA stakeholder meetings. It also calls for USTR to revamp its trade advisory committees to give unions, public interest groups, and small and large businesses “meaningful opportunities” to provide input during the negotiation process. “For too long, USTR trade advisory committees have been captured by large corporations and their teams of lobbyists,” the blueprint states. “The industry trade advisory committees should be revamped to represent a broad swath of interest and limit the current influence of multinational corporations.”
The trade plan would also require all federal public works and infrastructure projects be contracted to U.S. companies, require “up-to-date reporting” on “Buy American” waivers for foreign firms, and limit the number of manufactured products that can be foreign-made for U.S. transportation and water infrastructure projects. Further, the plan would restrict the use of “Buy American” waivers for products from non-market economies. The Democrats’ proposal would, additionally, clarify that U.S. countervailing duty law could be used to address foreign currency manipulation, requiring Commerce to investigate as a subsidy any U.S. industry request for a currency manipulation investigation. The blueprint would allow duties responding to currency manipulation “equal to the effect of the manipulation by that country.”
During an Aug. 2 press conference, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats plan to move their plan forward through “different proposals,” planning in September to introduce “all kinds of bills,” which he said he hopes will gain Republican support. He criticized President Donald Trump for doing “virtually nothing on trade but study it” since coming into office. Schumer added: “We need action. And if President Trump wants to work with us to get these things done, good, because we need a better deal for American workers. Period.”