An amendment that would stop the deal to lift an export ban on Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE is expected to pass the Senate June 18 as part of the defense authorization bill. Since the House of Representatives did not include such an amendment in its version, passed in May, conference committee members would have to agree to include it in the final version. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who will not serve on the committee, said he doesn't know what position the House negotiators will take. "I'm going to leave it to our conferees," he said at a press conference at the Capitol June 14.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
The House of Representatives on June 13 passed the Stop Illicit Drug Importation Act, which adds to the Food and Drug Administration's authority to detain, refuse and destroy imported drugs. The legislation says the provisions would not apply if "an electronic import entry for such article is submitted using an authorized electronic data interchange system" and if "such article is designated in such system as a drug, device, dietary supplement, or other product" in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
The entire congressional delegation from Washington state sent a letter to the U.S. trade representative, asking him to negotiate a solution with countries facing Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, because retaliatory tariffs on apples, cherries, pears and potatoes will cost the state's farmers tens of millions of dollars. The letter talks about cherry sales in China, apple sales in India, China and Mexico, and notes, "With cherry harvest beginning in the Pacific Northwest, time is of the essence for our growers."
The lead negotiator for Mexico in the NAFTA Customs and Trade Facilitation Chapter said much progress has been made, and that governments will elevate many practices to the treaty level and add others. Jose Martin Garcia, representative of the Mexican Finance Ministry and Customs Administration at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, spoke about how an updated NAFTA would benefit cross-border trade during a June 13 panel discussion at the Wilson Center. "We're trying to create a new concept of guidance, something more expeditious," he said, in addition to publicizing advance rulings. The chapter would implement inquiry boards, he said, whereby traders can ask questions about customs rules. Mexico, the U.S. and Canada want to create "transparency and uniformity of treatment for all traders," he said.
The No. 2 official at the Mexican Embassy in the U.S. said that while populist statements about the border have adversely affected the U.S.-Mexico relationship, there's optimism that NAFTA negotiations will be successful. Ambassador Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia, deputy chief of mission, said "we have been reminded that good neighbors can't be taken for granted," speaking June 13 at a Wilson Center event on the U.S.-Mexico border. "Truly the tariffs on steel and aluminum haven't helped the overall environment, the atmosphere of the trade talks," he said, but negotiations continue.
An amendment aimed at requiring a vote from Congress before Section 232 tariffs can be imposed was blocked in the Senate on June 12. Sen. Bob Corker , R-Tenn., said he understood that all the powers in the Senate were arrayed against his effort receiving a vote. His proposal would have not only required that Congress approve any tariffs against auto parts and autos based on national security grounds, but also would have been retroactive, so that Congress could have rolled back the 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 1806060018). The amendment was blocked on a procedural technicality -- that bills that affect revenue must start in the House of Representatives -- but Corker said on the floor of the Senate it was clear that wasn't the true reason. He said that Republican senators were fearful of upsetting the president. He said what he's been told since he proposed attaching his amendment to the defense authorization bill was: "Don't poke the bear!"
The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee spoke about their differences with the Trump administration on trade before questioning nominees for appointed positions in the Commerce Department and on the Court of International Trade. Ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who spoke before the nomination hearing June 12 about the administration's approach to its allies and trade, said he agrees "that NAFTA needs renegotiating. I agree that the U.S. needs to step up with tough action against China’s abusive trade practices. But after a year and a half of work, the Trump Administration has managed to unite our traditional allies with China against us. In many ways, China is getting away with its cheating scot-free. Instead of creating American jobs, this trade policy is creating chaos," he said, according to prepared remarks.
BALTIMORE -- Trade policy under President Donald Trump is upending years of largely consistent approaches to U.S. trading partners, panelists said during the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference on June 8. While the panelists mostly agreed that the consequences of the tariff-centric approach is too harsh, some expressed sympathy with the administration's general reaction to globalization.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to raise tariffs on longtime allies because, in his view, they have ripped off America. But at a post-G-7 press conference, he laid out the consequence if they don't drop their tariffs to the same level as the U.S. "It's going to change. They have no choice. If it's not going to change, we're not going to trade with them," he said. He listed Canada, the European Union -- which he called "brutal" -- and India as offenders that could be barred from exporting to the U.S.
If the Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018 becomes law, the Government Accountability Office will evaluate how effective the use of advance electronic data has been in stopping the flow of fentanyl and other opioid packages, and it will assess "whether the detection of illicit synthetic opioids in the international mail would be improved by requiring the Postal Service to serve as the consignee for international mail shipments containing goods; or designating a customs broker to act as an importer of record for international mail shipments containing goods."