Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has joined with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to propose that U.S. and Mexican officials inspect Mexican factories suspected of violating labor standards. Wyden's staff said that if that violation was verified, the U.S. would not give its products duty-free entry, and if there was forced labor, it could block imports from those factories entirely.
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.
President Donald Trump denied he said Mexico has a year to improve drug interdiction (see 1904040030), but, for the second day in a row, he suggested Mexico is improving its control of migration, so he won't need to close the border soon. "I don't think we'll ever have to close the border because the penalty of tariffs on cars coming into the United States from Mexico at 25 percent will be massive," Trump told White House reporters a few hours after he made the one-year remark, on April 4.
President Donald Trump said he won't schedule a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping until the two sides have agreed on ways to resolve U.S. complaints about China's industrial policies and market access, but said they have already "agreed to far more than we have left to agree to."
More than 430 businesses and trade groups asked the leaders of the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over tariffs to ask the U.S. trade representative for a delay in his decision to bar India and Turkey from the Generalized System of Preferences program (see 1903040073). India accounted for more than $5 billion of the $21 billion in imports covered by GSP.
A bill that would provide $600 million for additional investigations into which Chinese companies are supplying fentanyl that is sold to drug dealers was introduced April 4, with the intention of holding China's feet to the fire in fulfilling its promise to crack down on fentanyl that is not intended for legitimate medical purposes. Three Republicans and four Democrats -- including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. -- introduced the Fentanyl Sanctions Act. The bill is also co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; and Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
A Texas Republican and a Michigan Democrat in the Senate are co-sponsoring a bill that would require CBP to hire at least 600 additional officers a year until its staffing needs are met. Sen. Gary Peters, the ranking member of the committee that oversees CBP, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced Securing America's Ports of Entry Act of 2019 on April 3.
The Mexican undersecretary for North American affairs, who was the current administrator's chief negotiator in the NAFTA renegotiations, said as he meets with Democrats in Congress, "we are making progress" in convincing them that the labor reforms under consideration in Mexico are very strong. Jesus Seade, speaking at a press conference April 4 at the Mexican Embassy, added, "It doesn't mean that anybody asked, 'Seade, where do I sign?'"
President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House April 4 that he's giving Mexico a year to crack down on migration through its territory and prevent illegal drug shipments into the U.S. "Mexico understands that we're going to close the border or I'm going to tariff the cars. I'll do one or the other. And probably start off with the tariffs. That will be a very powerful incentive," he said. He said the other problem is drugs.
A bill that would ban the sale of shark fins in the U.S. passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee April 3. The bill, led by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also passed out of committee two years ago (see 1705180030), and had more than 30 co-sponsors and a companion House bill, but never came up for a vote in either chamber.
Pro-trade Democrats said that given the barrier of Section 232 tariffs, the fact that Mexico has not yet passed labor law reform, and other concerns, it's premature to be talking about the timing of a vote in the House of Representatives to ratify the new NAFTA. The president of the New Democrats, as well as two other trade leaders in the pro-growth caucus, talked to reporters April 2 after meeting with Canada's U.S. Ambassador David MacNaughton at the Capitol.