With Congress and the White House still sparring over the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, import safety legislation looks to be next on the trade agenda for lawmakers.
Product Safety. Formal conference negotiations to resolve the different consumer product safety bills passed by the House and Senate are expected to begin soon. A final bill, which is expected to increase criminal and civil penalties, tighten standards and impose new reporting requirements, could be ready for President Bush to sign as early as Memorial Day.
Food and Drug Safety. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., has circulated for comment by committee members a draft revised bill to improve the safety of imported food, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. The committee is in the process of holding hearings on the measure, which includes a number of controversial provisions. These include annual registration fees for companies importing these products into or exporting them to the U.S., import restrictions, country of origin labeling and stiffer penalties.
In the Senate, the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved April 24 a bill that would impose a number of new requirements in an effort to ensure the safety of imported seafood. For example, the Commerce Department and the Food and Drug Administration would be required to work more closely on examining and testing seafood imports, inspecting foreign seafood facilities and tracking seafood shipments within the U.S. The bill would also give the FDA the authority to prohibit the entry of seafood or seafood products that it believes are unlikely to meet federal requirements.
Farm Bill. The House and Senate have reportedly reached a conference agreement on legislation that will set U.S. agricultural policy for the next five years. This bill is expected to contain a number of provisions that affect trade.
Miscellaneous Trade Bill. The House recently added nearly a dozen more bills to the miscellaneous trade bill it is putting together, which will primarily suspend or reduce duties on imports of products not made domestically. Among these are the Affordable Footwear Act (H.R. 3934), which would eliminate import duties on certain footwear, and a measure to make various changes to the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Comments on the additional bills are due June 2.
The process of assembling an MTB in the Senate has not yet begun, but business representatives are meeting with staffers from that chamber this week to discuss the issue.
FTAs. There are currently no plans for Congress to vote on legislation implementing the Colombia FTA. Some observers believe that if a vote does occur it is more likely to be held sometime after the November elections. President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., continue to accuse each other of delaying further consideration of the bill, which the White House submitted to Congress earlier this month.
Pelosi has also declined a request by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ill., to detail the specific economic stimulus measures Democrats want to see progress on in order to move the FTA forward, saying that “the best process for developing economic recovery legislation is through face to face discussions rather than by laying out a list of options.” Boehner responded by accusing Pelosi of blocking the FTA for “purely political reasons” and alleging that the Democratic leadership “does not want to see a vote” on this FTA.
The partisan bickering over Colombia could have a negative effect on prospects for congressional approval of the Panama FTA, which otherwise appears to face little opposition now that the head of Panama’s National Assembly, who is wanted in the U.S. for the 1992 murder of a U.S. soldier, appears set to step down this September. On the other hand, if the Colombia FTA seems unlikely to go forward by this fall, the Democratic leadership could decide to proceed with the Panama FTA and the Bush administration may not stand in the way.
Recent developments have brightened the outlook somewhat for the Korea FTA. Korea recently agreed to a two-stage process under which it will completely reopen its market to U.S. beef and beef products. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said that this agreement paves the way for Congress to take up the FTA and that the Bush administration will push for the enactment of implementing legislation this year. Some lawmakers, however, have said they still have concerns on automobiles, farm goods and other issues.
Trade Adjustment Assistance. There has been little apparent movement in recent weeks on efforts to overhaul the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, one of the economic stimulus measures Democratic leaders want the White House to agree to in exchange for a possible vote on the Colombia FTA.
Preference Programs. Legislation to extend and perhaps revise trade preference programs expiring this year – the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, the Generalized System of Preferences and the Andean Trade Preference Act – is expected to be introduced in the coming months. A House Ways and Means Committee hearing on preference programs is anticipated in the near future and a similar hearing is expected in the Senate Finance Committee this summer. Those hearings could also address the New Partnership for Development Act of 2007, which would eliminate duties and quotas on imports from the world’s poorest countries.
Trade Enforcement. Over a dozen Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee indicated recently that they plan to introduce legislation to strengthen the enforcement of U.S. rights under its trade agreements. This bill could include provisions to (a) create the new post of congressional trade enforcer and/or a Senate-confirmed chief enforcement officer at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, (b) re-establish the Super 301 process for investigating and prosecuting foreign trade barriers, (c) curtail the president’s discretion to reject import relief that the International Trade Commission recommends in a Section 421 China safeguard investigation, and (d) clarify that the Commerce Department has the authority to apply countervailing duties to non-market economy countries.
CBP Reauthorization. The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing in March that could inform the development later this year of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection reauthorization bill. Another such hearing is scheduled for April 29. Provisions on CBP’s proposal to revoke the First Sale Rule, the safety of imported foods and consumer products, supply chain security programs, intellectual property rights enforcement, duty collections, trade data submission requirements, duty drawback simplification, and CBP staffing and resources for commercial functions could be included in such a bill. The House would reportedly like to pass a CBP reauthorization measure this year as well.
Other. Other issues that could be taken up by Congress this year include the following.
• Lawmakers have essentially given up on efforts to approve punitive trade measures against China this year, although legislation that could affect bilateral trade relations (e.g., the trade enforcement bill mentioned above) remains a possibility, particularly as the Summer Olympics in Beijing and the November elections in the U.S. draw nearer.
• A bill (H.R. 3887) establishing a Jan. 15, 2009, deadline for the Department of Labor to submit to Congress and make available to the public a list of foreign-made goods believed to be produced with forced or child labor in violation of international standards, which could expand the scope of products prohibited from entry into the U.S., passed the House Dec. 4 by a 405-2 vote and is now pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
World Trade/Interactive
