President Barack Obama on Nov. 14 threatened to veto a bill that would prohibit the Treasury secretary from authorizing a transaction by a public or private U.S. financial institution for the export or re-export of commercial passenger aircraft to Iran, according to a statement of administration policy (here). The House Rules Committee on Nov. 14 cleared the bill, H.R. 5711, for floor consideration. The bill seeks to deter permissible business with Iran, and would prevent the U.S. from meeting commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by effectively banning the U.S. from licensing the sale of commercial aircraft for exclusively civil end uses, the statement says.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership should be easier to pass through Congress than last year’s Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), in part because the TPP requires only 50 votes, rather than TPA’s 60, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during an Oct. 26 press briefing (here). The Obama administration can point to tariff benefits that countries will provide on certain products under the agreement like cowboy boots and barbecue sauce, Earnest said. “Now there are tangible benefits that individual representatives in Congress can point to, to explain their vote,” he said. “There’s a stronger rationale for the vote. There is a stronger, more specific economic case that we can make about the benefits that the country will enjoy based on the approval of the agreement [than for TPA]. And the legislative process is not nearly as complicated as it was last summer.” Earnest said all these factors make the Obama administration more confident about its ability to sell the deal to Congress when they return for the upcoming lame-duck session.
President Barack Obama will describe the continued efforts of his administration to secure near-term congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership when he meets with heads of other TPP countries during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit in Peru Nov. 18-20, the White House said in a statement (here). “He will emphasize our continued support for the agreement’s high, enforceable standards that will benefit American workers and businesses while furthering our national security imperatives in the Asia Pacific,” the statement says. Obama has met with leaders of the other TPP member nations on the margins of APEC since 2011.
Political party candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the final presidential debate (here) Oct. 19 each argued that he or she would better address product dumping in the U.S. by Chinese exporters. Clinton said “one of the biggest problems we have” is China’s illegal dumping of steel and aluminum into U.S. markets, and accused Trump of buying those products from China for construction projects, including the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas. “He goes around with crocodile tears about how terrible it is, but he has given jobs to Chinese steelworkers, not American steelworkers,” she said. Trump countered by saying that when Clinton was in previous public service positions, she should have changed the laws to make it illegal for developers, including Trump, to use Chinese steel in building projects. “For thirty years, you’ve been in a position to help,” Trump said. “And if you say I've used steel or I used something else, make it impossible for me to do that. I wouldn’t mind. The problem is you talk, but you don't get anything done, Hillary. You don't.” Clinton said she fought against dumping as a senator and as secretary of State.
President Barack Obama signed into law the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt (END) Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016, meant to prevent illegal wildlife trafficking and increase interagency involvement with pertinent governments. The bill would require the U.S. government to make recommendations for how to address wildlife trafficking threats and would also instruct yearly reporting on how all appropriations to combat the illicit practice are being spent, according to the bill text (here). The Senate passed the bill Sept. 15, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved it in April (see 1604280052). The House approved the bill Sept. 21.
President Barack Obama removed sanctions on individuals under the Block Burmese Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts (JADE) Act of 2008, and lifted a 1997 emergency executive order that banned new investment in Myanmar, according to an Oct. 7 presidential document (here). Obama in September announced the addition of Myanmar as a least developed beneficiary developing country to the U.S. list of Generalized System of Preferences beneficiaries after a roughly 27-year absence from the program (see 1609140032), part of his administration’s actions to liberalize trade and investment with the country since it made several democratic reforms.
The U.S. and Canadian single window data requirements are about as closely aligned as possible, the White House said in its 2015 Beyond the Border Implementation Report (here). "To better align single window programs in each country, CBP and the [Canada Border Services Agency] have harmonized 96% of their single window data requirements (the remaining 4% relate to data requirements specific to each country)," the White House said. The report details recent progress on the Beyond the Border plan, a combined effort by the two countries to improve travel and trade processing.
President Barack Obama is appealing to the histories of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., supporting free trade agreements in an effort to convince the leaders to bring up Trans-Pacific Partnership-implementation legislation for consideration during the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said during a press conference (here). “I think the case the President would make is, ‘Consider your previous position and your philosophy on these kinds of issues and recognize that, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, there’s not likely to be a President sitting in the Oval Office for the next four years that supports this,’” Earnest said. “So there is a now-or-never element to this.” Earnest said that the interests of Obama and large GOP interests “are aligned” in passing TPP. “We’re eager to work with them to get this deal across the finish line, as are a number of outside organizations who wield significant influence in American politics but don’t typically use that influence to advocate for President Obama’s agenda,” Earnest said.
Akin Gump released its 2016 Pre-Election Political Report, which interprets presidential candidates Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s positions on issues including international trade (here). The law firm said Trump’s hard-line stance on trade rejects the bipartisan approach toward the issue that Democratic and Republican presidents have followed since 1934, and noted that most scholars believe his approach would hurt the U.S. economy and geopolitics in the face of a strong China. In contrast, the report says, Clinton’s approach to trade doesn’t represent a wholesale rejection of executive branch precedents on the issue, but rather involves a more nuanced approach.
President Barack Obama appointed Adele Chatfield-Taylor, Shannon Keller O’Loughlin and James Reap to be members of the State Department Cultural Property Advisory Committee, as well as Jeremy Sabloff, who will also serve as chairman, according to an announcement (here).