Ahead of congressional hearings featuring U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president said on an April 15 press call that his organization is concerned about the “laissez faire” approach he said the Biden administration has been taking in negotiating against foreign trade barriers and enforcing existing U.S. trade agreements.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wrote to President Joe Biden saying that he should "take bold, aggressive action and to permanently ban" electric vehicles "produced by Chinese companies or whatever subsidiaries they establish to conceal their origins."
Five members of House Ways and Means Committee and the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific introduced a bill that would set up an ‘‘Indo-Pacific Trade Strategy Commission’’ to make recommendations to Congress on a comprehensive trade policy in the region, and direct the International Trade Commission to produce a report on how the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade agreement and China's Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership multilateral free trade agreement affect U.S. exports and growth opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. The report also would address differences between the TPP successor, RCEP, and the USMCA, and the impact of Asian regional trade agreements on U.S. supply chain resiliency, and how they affect China's role in key global supply chains.
A bill requiring a study on gender bias and regressive effects of the U.S. tariff system was introduced April 10, and has been endorsed by the New Democrat Coalition Trade Task Force, which is led by one of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich, joined by four other Michigan Democrats, two Indiana Democrats and Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., whose district includes a major Mercedes plant, asked the Biden administration to prevent Chinese cars from entering the U.S.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is calling on the International Trade Commission to reverse its determination that tin mill imports don't harm the domestic steel industry. “My conversations in Weirton yesterday with local officials, Union members, and concerned citizens further proved what we already knew to be true -- the ITC must reverse its catastrophic decision to favor illegally dumped and subsidized imports over the livelihoods of hardworking Americans,” Manchin said April 5. He said the decision directly caused the mill in Weirton to close, which put nearly 1,000 people out of work. He said the president should intervene. The ITC is supposed to make its decisions independent of political pressure.
Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., recently introduced a bill that would permanently end the 4.8% tariff on imported basketballs. This is the third time he has tried to change the tariff code for this item (see 2106020064). Russell Brands of Bowling Green, Kentucky, has gotten leather basketballs repeatedly covered by the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, saving about $50,000 in tariffs annually; however, no MTB has been in effect for more than three years.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who has opposed the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel Corp. by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp. since it was announced in December (see 2312200056), said April 2 that a new report about Nippon Steel’s ties to China provides another reason for the Biden administration to reject the deal.
Reps. Garret Graves, R-La., and Mary Sattler Peltola, D-Alaska, asked the administration to halt the import of shrimp from India, following an exposé of labor violations in Indian shrimp processing facilities. The two said the report also showed "severe food and safety issues" with the shrimp. The report didn't at all focus on food safety, only glancingly mentioning that shrimp can be overtreated with antibiotics in India.
Five senators, from both parties, want to end the 15% tariff on titanium sponge for most favored nations, and introduced a bill to change the tariff line.