Legislative update: Product safety moves, trade preferences await
August 5, 2008
World Trade\Interactive
Congress adjourned for its summer recess Aug. 1, but not before acting on a long-awaited product safety bill and setting the stage for a trade preference bill to possibly move later this year. With the timeframe for legislative action down to a matter of weeks (lawmakers return Sept. 8 and adjourn Sept. 26, and it is unclear whether they will hold a “lame duck” session following the November elections), following is an update on the more significant trade-related bills still pending in Congress.
Food Safety. New legislation (S. 3385) introduced in the Senate July 31 would impose a number of new requirements in an effort to improve the safety of the U.S. food supply, including imports. This wide-ranging bill includes provisions on food facility and importer registration, foreign supplier safety verification, expedited treatment for qualified importers, foreign facility inspection, import certification, third-party auditors, administrative detention and mandatory recalls. See the Aug. 4 issue of WorldTrade\INTERACTIVE for more details. It is unclear when this legislation may be taken up in the Senate.
Product Safety. Both the House and Senate have approved the conference report on a comprehensive consumer product safety reform bill (H.R. 4040) and President Bush is expected to sign it into law shortly. This bill includes provisions on toys and children’s products, criminal and civil penalties, third-party testing and other issues. A number of industry-opposed measures were reportedly weakened in the final bill, but Acting Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Nancy Nord pointed out that it contains “many new missions and mandates” for the CPSC “that are not funded by the bill.” The full text of the conference report is attached.
In related news, a Senate bill introduced July 31 would require the CPSC to treat novelty lighters as a banned hazardous substance, thereby prohibiting the manufacture, importation or sale of such lighters anywhere in the U.S.
Trade Preferences. The House of Representatives approved July 29 legislation (H.R. 6560) that extends the Generalized System of Preferences without change for one year, allows duty-free entry for certain pants and other bottoms imported from the Dominican Republic, and repeals the “abundant supply” provision in the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The bill would also designate Mauritius as a least-developed beneficiary developing country under AGOA, which would allow duty-free treatment for imports of apparel made in that country with third-country fabric. See the July 31 issue of WorldTrade\INTERACTIVE for more details.
Because GSP is slated to expire Dec. 31 and the other provisions of this bill are relatively non-controversial, prospects for Senate approval appear good and action could come in September. It is possible that lawmakers could seek to add other trade-related measures to the bill, either in the Senate or in a potential conference report.
H.R. 6560 does not include an extension of another trade preference program, the Andean Trade Preference Act, which is also scheduled to expire Dec. 31. Benefits for all four ATPA countries could lapse if that happens – the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement may not be implemented by then, the U.S.-Colombia FTA will not be, and neither Bolivia nor Ecuador has negotiated a similar agreement.
FTAs. The FTA with Colombia remains the Bush administration’s top trade priority, but congressional Democratic leaders are continuing to resist pressure to bring the agreement up for a vote until their domestic economic priorities are addressed. According to a Roll Call article, senior House Democratic aides said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wants a second economic stimulus package and an expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, but a senior White House official said Pelosi “has refused to be pinned down” on what it will take to move the Colombia FTA. A recent “dear colleague” letter from three House Republicans warned that implementing legislation for this agreement will lose its “fast track” protections if Congress does not vote on it this year and that “moving a high-profile and significant agreement like the Colombian agreement without these protections is highly risky, unprecedented, and likely to be doomed.”
According to Inside US Trade Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said after a recent visit to Washington that the rescue of U.S. and other hostages by Colombia’s armed forces “has softened the hearts of some of the opponents of the free trade agreement” in Congress but that “nobody gave me an official statement” of whether their position on the FTA had changed. “I cannot say that this is going to be the determining factor to vote positively [on the FTA], because we know there are other interests involved and other situations involved,” he said.
Although the last remaining political obstacle to congressional approval of the U.S.-Panama FTA is likely to be eliminated next month, when a man accused of killing a U.S. soldier in 1992 is expected to step down as head of the country’s parliament, any such action may have to await the outcome of the struggle over the Colombia FTA.
The Bush administration also appears to be preparing for a bigger push on the Korea FTA this fall. Officials have continually stressed that this agreement would be the biggest for the U.S. since NAFTA and would strengthen ties with an important ally in Asia, and President Bush recently signaled his interest in the FTA by meeting briefly with businesses who support it. The president will visit Korea this week as part of a three-country trip through Asia, and the FTA is likely to be on the agenda for his discussions with Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Enforcement. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., introduced July 17 a broad trade enforcement bill (H.R. 6530) that they said will combat counterfeiting and piracy, improve import safety, promote market access for U.S. goods and services and strengthen remedies against unfair trade. The bill is unlikely to see action this year and is viewed more as an effort to set a baseline for trade policy discussions when a new president and a new Congress take office next year.
Intellectual Property Rights. A broad intellectual property rights enforcement bill combining features of other IPR measures now pending in Congress was introduced in the Senate July 24. The bill includes authorization for the Department of Justice to enforce civil copyright laws, enhancements to civil and criminal IPR laws and penalties, improved coordination of federal efforts against counterfeiting and piracy, and increased resources for DOJ programs to combat IPR theft. See the July 29 issue of WorldTrade\INTERACTIVE for more details. It is unknown whether Congress may take up this bill before it adjourns for the year.
Trade Adjustment Assistance. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., had hoped the committee would consider before the end of July a bill to extend and expand the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. He postponed a markup until September, however, after Republicans continued to link TAA with a vote on the Colombia FTA. “I believe that the Colombia FTA should be considered, and should pass, but on its own merits and in its own time,” Baucus said. “I do not believe that the Colombia FTA can pass Congress unless our duty on TAA is done.”
Miscellaneous Trade Bill. Sources say that Congress will not act on a miscellaneous trade bill this year. The process and some of the content continues to be controversial among some lawmakers, and many of the import duty breaks that would be extended by the MTB do not expire until the end of 2009.
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