Trade agreements could support the administration's goal of fighting deforestation, and so could legislation similar to the Forest Act (see 2110070050), but either path will have to contend with the difficulties of political sensitivities in targeted countries, the possibility of unintended consequences, and the logistical challenges of identifying products from deforested land and enforcing a ban on their entry to the U.S., two recent reports said.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., along with Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., introduced the Formula 3.0 Act, a bill that would permanently waive tariffs and lower trade barriers on imported infant formula.
Top European and U.S. officials have talked about the need for their EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council to produce concrete outcomes, and two were achieved in Sweden, at the fourth meeting -- standard conformity on how to charge electric heavy duty vehicles.
The former lead negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, after a close examination of the joint statements from the latest Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiating session, said the "substantial conclusion" of the supply chain pillar is less than meets the eye.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who previously asked the administration to warn Uganda that its anti-gay law risked its continued participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (see 2304280060), is now calling on the administration to revoke Uganda's tariff breaks under AGOA. The law allows for the death penalty for gay sex with a minor, or for HIV-positive gay people having sex. It provides for up to 10 years in prison for asserting you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, nonbinary or transgender.
Ten Democrats in the House, led by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., introduced a package of bills regulating cosmetics, including a measure that would require cosmetics suppliers to provide to the brand that sells their goods a full list of ingredients, chemical registry numbers, heavy metal testing results, safety data sheets, manufacturing flow charts, an International Fragrance Association standards conformity certificate and whether any allergens are present.
In a vote late on May 24, 214 members of the House of Representatives voted to override President Joe Biden's veto of a resolution that aimed to end the two-year pause on anti-circumvention deposits for some solar panel imports from Southeast Asia. There were 205 members who voted to continue the policy, and Congress needs a two-thirds majority to override a veto.
Very little of a hearing on customs modernization focused on the issues CBP and the trade have focused on as they work on a modernization proposal. The agency and traders are talking about new kinds of advance data, expedited release for trusted traders, better harmonization of data requests from partner government agencies and CBP, and data sharing from CBP with rights holders on intellectual property violations, among other changes.
The high-profile House Select Committee on China is recommending that the de minimis threshold of $800 be reduced "with particular focus on foreign adversaries including the PRC."
Eighteen months after a senator launched a discussion draft on customs modernization (see 2111030035), the House Ways and Means Committee is beginning its examination of how to shape a bill to update CBP's authorities.