Mara Lee

The House of Representatives on June 13 passed the Stop Illicit Drug Importation Act, which adds to the Food and Drug Administration's authority to detain, refuse and destroy imported drugs. The legislation says the provisions would not apply if "an electronic import entry for such article is submitted using an authorized electronic data interchange system" and if "such article is designated in such system as a drug, device, dietary supplement, or other product" in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

An amendment that would stop the deal to lift an export ban on Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE is expected to pass the Senate June 18 as part of the defense authorization bill. Since the House of Representatives did not include such an amendment in its version, passed in May, conference committee members would have to agree to include it in the final version. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who will not serve on the committee, said he doesn't know what position the House negotiators will take. "I'm going to leave it to our conferees," he said at a press conference at the Capitol June 14.

Citing the inflationary effect of antidumping and countervailing duties on softwood lumber, Reps. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, and Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., led a letter asking that the administration reopen discussions with Canada, with the goal of reaching a negotiated agreement on softwood lumber imports. The two countries operated under the most recent agreement from 2006 to 2015. Canadians have said they're willing to agree to a new agreement with an export cap, but, if demand is high, a mechanism to lift the cap (see 1708240031). The June 12 letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the antidumping and countervailing duties strain the relationship with one of the country's closest allies and cause "unnecessary cost increases" for home builders. In a press release announcing the letter, Marchant cites a National Association of Home Builders estimate that the duties add $7,000 to the cost of building a new house.

An amendment aimed at requiring a vote from Congress before Section 232 tariffs can be imposed was blocked in the Senate on June 12. Sen. Bob Corker , R-Tenn., said he understood that all the powers in the Senate were arrayed against his effort receiving a vote. His proposal would have not only required that Congress approve any tariffs against auto parts and autos based on national security grounds, but also would have been retroactive, so that Congress could have rolled back the 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 1806060018). The amendment was blocked on a procedural technicality -- that bills that affect revenue must start in the House of Representatives -- but Corker said on the floor of the Senate it was clear that wasn't the true reason. He said that Republican senators were fearful of upsetting the president. He said what he's been told since he proposed attaching his amendment to the defense authorization bill was: "Don't poke the bear!"

The No. 2 official at the Mexican Embassy in the U.S. said that while populist statements about the border have adversely affected the U.S.-Mexico relationship, there's optimism that NAFTA negotiations will be successful. Ambassador Jose Antonio Zabalgoitia, deputy chief of mission, said "we have been reminded that good neighbors can't be taken for granted," speaking June 13 at a Wilson Center event on the U.S.-Mexico border. "Truly the tariffs on steel and aluminum haven't helped the overall environment, the atmosphere of the trade talks," he said, but negotiations continue.

The lead negotiator for Mexico in the NAFTA Customs and Trade Facilitation Chapter said much progress has been made, and that governments will elevate many practices to the treaty level and add others. Jose Martin Garcia, representative of the Mexican Finance Ministry and Customs Administration at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, spoke about how an updated NAFTA would benefit cross-border trade during a June 13 panel discussion at the Wilson Center. "We're trying to create a new concept of guidance, something more expeditious," he said, in addition to publicizing advance rulings. The chapter would implement inquiry boards, he said, whereby traders can ask questions about customs rules. Mexico, the U.S. and Canada want to create "transparency and uniformity of treatment for all traders," he said.

The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee spoke about their differences with the Trump administration on trade before questioning nominees for appointed positions in the Commerce Department and on the Court of International Trade. Ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who spoke before the nomination hearing June 12 about the administration's approach to its allies and trade, said he agrees "that NAFTA needs renegotiating. I agree that the U.S. needs to step up with tough action against China’s abusive trade practices. But after a year and a half of work, the Trump Administration has managed to unite our traditional allies with China against us. In many ways, China is getting away with its cheating scot-free. Instead of creating American jobs, this trade policy is creating chaos," he said, according to prepared remarks.

If the Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018 becomes law, the Government Accountability Office will evaluate how effective the use of advance electronic data has been in stopping the flow of fentanyl and other opioid packages, and it will assess "whether the detection of illicit synthetic opioids in the international mail would be improved by requiring the Postal Service to serve as the consignee for international mail shipments containing goods; or designating a customs broker to act as an importer of record for international mail shipments containing goods."

President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to raise tariffs on longtime allies because, in his view, they have ripped off America. But at a post-G-7 press conference, he laid out the consequence if they don't drop their tariffs to the same level as the U.S. "It's going to change. They have no choice. If it's not going to change, we're not going to trade with them," he said. He listed Canada, the European Union -- which he called "brutal" -- and India as offenders that could be barred from exporting to the U.S.

BALTIMORE -- Trade policy under President Donald Trump is upending years of largely consistent approaches to U.S. trading partners, panelists said during the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference on June 8. While the panelists mostly agreed that the consequences of the tariff-centric approach is too harsh, some expressed sympathy with the administration's general reaction to globalization.