On the last day of the current Congress, retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced a bill that would ask the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to analyze the economic integration between the U.S. and China in priority sectors, and the U.S. government's views of how that integration should change over the next five to 19 years.
Two lawmakers asked the Biden administration this week to begin negotiations on trade deals with Ecuador and Uruguay. Trade agreements with both countries would “capitalize on the bipartisan momentum and success” of USMCA, said Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
The International Trade Administration will receive a major increase in funding from the last fiscal year, a bump from $559 million to $625 million, the more than 4,000-page annual appropriations bill says. Of that, $16.4 million is dedicated for China antidumping and countervailing duty enforcement and compliance, exactly what the administration asked for (see 2203280048).
The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee and the presumed front-runner for chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, along with 30 other Republicans on the committees, told Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that her strategy to tax multinationals -- and in the process, convince countries to abandon digital services taxes -- will not be accepted in Congress.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who is retiring at the end of this Congress, and outgoing New Democrats Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced a resolution that asks the U.S. trade representative to re-launch negotiations at the World Trade Organization to liberalize trade in environmental goods.
The newly shuffled Congress likely will have areas of bipartisan agreement around trade and industrial policy, experts said during a Dec. 14 webinar hosted by Crowell & Moring. There likely will be bipartisan bills aimed at strengthening and reshoring U.S. production in critical sectors like rare mineral extraction and electronics in the vein of the Chips Act, the firm's senior policy director Scott Douglas said. With competition with China at the "top of mind" for both parties, "a host of Buy American" or similar issues are likely to be passed by Congress that could involve changes in trade policy, environmental standards or labor issues, Kate Beale, another senior policy director, said.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., was selected by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to head a select committee on China. The committee will address both military and trade issues sparked by Chinese policies. "The greatest threat to the United States is the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP continues to commit genocide, obscure the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, steal hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American intellectual property, and threaten Taiwan. The Select Committee on China will push back in bipartisan fashion before it’s too late. Even in divided government, we have an opportunity to build a united front against CCP aggression," Gallagher said in a statement after the Dec. 8 announcement.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said the best thing Congress could do to accelerate the green transition would be to put a price on carbon, and pair that with a carbon border adjustment tax. "That’s the only thing that has a significant impact," he said during an interview at Washington Post Live.
The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing Dec. 14 on Promoting Sustainable Environmental Practices Through Trade Policy, beginning at 9:30 a.m. No witnesses have been announced.