Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is asking why tariffs on aluminum seem to be permanent fixtures at the same time that there's a pause on potential anti-circumvention duties on Southeast Asian solar panels.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, and one of the three Republicans vying to replace him after he retires, asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to "preserve all documents and communications in your custody relating to the Administration’s decision to agree to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS waiver) that was adopted on June 17, 2022."
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. David Trone, D-Md., both of whom serve on the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, complained that widespread waivers for Advanced Electronic Data for mail coming to the U.S. "undermine efforts to identify packages containing fentanyl or other illegal substances and stop them from entering the United States." Expanding AED to mail, not just express shipments, was central to the STOP Act.
The U.S. trade representative should reject the Florida congressional delegation's Section 301 petition regarding Mexican produce imports, argued Iowa's two senators, as well as Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., recently asked the State Department to ask Honduras to honor guarantees for U.S. investments in Honduran Economic Development and Employment Zones (ZEDEs), which were created under the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA-DR.
Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Mayra Flores, R-Texas, introduced a bill to make Plattsburgh International Airport and Valley International Airport official ports of entry. Currently, these airports pay for CBP's cargo examinations, immigration inspections and the like.
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., one of the leading voices in the Senate for free trade, was unable to get changes to the Section 232 statute into the must-pass defense bill that will be taken up during the lame duck session of Congress.
Big Tech’s digital trade agenda “threatens” consumer privacy, worker safety and anti-disinformation efforts, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., wrote to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Oct. 6. They requested information about a “revolving door” of high-level hiring between the Commerce Department and Big Tech and the potential impact on global digital trade negotiations. They said the unethical practice of hiring high-level staff from tech and allowing them to influence trade deals behind closed doors hurts workers and consumers. They cited potential impacts on negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and 36 other House Republicans are calling on the administration to include Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, to expeditiously finalize provisions in the U.S.-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework, and to negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible. The bill, introduced Sept. 28, is called the Taiwan Policy Act. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas said, "Deterrence is key to stopping the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] from provoking a conflict that would seriously harm U.S. national security.”
Two House Republicans, including the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to the CBP commissioner to ask him to explain how CBP screens products containing Chinese critical minerals, and to detail "the methodologies used to gather intelligence about forced labor in critical mineral supply chains and whether you believe these methodologies are sufficient?"