Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, on Feb. 26 introduced H. 1376, which would require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to study whether Cambodia's participation in the Generalized System of Preferences program should be limited, suspended or ended. The bill follows the January introduction in the Senate of S. 34, the Cambodia Trade Act. That bill was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and has since been joined by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. (see 1901100016). Lowenthal said Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen "and his regime must pay a price for their role in destroying the rule of law and violating the basic freedoms of the Cambodian people.” Cambodia's participation in the GSP beneficiary program was re-approved in April 2018.
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.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have said in a letter to the U.S. trade representative that lowering de minimis in the implementing legislation for the new NAFTA is unwelcome. "We strongly oppose any change to existing law that would authorize the Administration to lower the current U.S. de minimis threshold to make it reciprocal with its trading partners," they wrote Feb. 27. "While we are deeply disappointed that both Canada and Mexico were unwilling to raise their de minimis thresholds for express shipments to match the U.S. $800 de minimis level, lowering the U.S. threshold in response is contrary to well-demonstrated Congressional intent."
President Donald Trump, who has been saying China and the U.S. are "very, very close" to an agreement, sounded a different note in Vietnam, where he walked away from negotiations with North Korea when that country's denuclearization offer didn't go far enough. In a press conference in Vietnam, Trump said, "speaking of China, we're very well on our way to doing something special, but we'll see. I mean, I am always prepared to walk. I'm never afraid to walk from a deal. And I would do that with China, too, if it didn’t work out."
The day after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Rep. Jackie Walorski at a hearing that he still believes there's no need for exclusions from 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports, she and Rep. Ron Kind have introduced a bill that would force him to put the process in place. Their bill -- which has a Senate companion written by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. -- is called the Import Tax Relief Act.
Although the main topic of the hearing was China, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told House Ways and Means Committee members repeatedly Feb. 27 that if they don't ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, there will be no trade agenda for the next several years. "If we don’t pass USMCA, it says we don’t have a consensus," he said. Lighthizer also said: "It’s clearly better than its predecessor, it’s no question. Millions and millions of people are affected [by NAFTA]. You just have to pass it."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who is leading the China trade talks, downplayed the possibility that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will sign a trade agreement a month from now. Lighthizer, who testified before the House Ways and Means Committee Feb. 27, was asked by Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., if he sees a package coming in the next few weeks. "I’m not foolish enough to think there’s going to be one negotiation that’s going to change all the practices in China," Lighthizer replied. "At the end of this negotiation, if we’re successful, there'll be a signing." But that's the beginning of a long process to monitor China's compliance with what it promises to do.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, thinks passing the new NAFTA is urgent, but he acknowledged that not much will happen on Capitol Hill until the White House offers its implementing legislation. "The timeline begins when the president sends the [U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement] up to Congress, so we don't worry about it until then," he said. Grassley said that while the administration is deciding how to lift the metals tariffs on Canada and Mexico, he is planning to talk to Democrats about what they need to have changed in the agreement to vote yes. "I would like to have very specifically set out what it takes in the area of environment, labor and enforcement to satisfy the Democrats," Grassley said in a phone call with reporters Feb. 26. He said again that whatever they're asking for has to be accomplished without reopening negotiations (see 1902130049).
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce-organized USMCA Coalition launched Feb. 26, with many of the major trade players -- UPS, the Detroit automakers, the farm bureau, the American Apparel and Footwear Association -- and some notable absentees -- foreign automakers, aerospace firms.
Democrats in Congress are wondering if the president's rush to get a deal with China will result in a deal that leaves China's mercantilist policies in place, while a member of the Senate Republican leadership expressed confidence that the deal that's expected just a month from now will be comprehensive.
Trade experts are doubtful that a high-quality trade deal China is coming in a month, but the quality -- and what will happen with the tariffs on Chinese goods -- is still blurry. "The president, for all his self-proclaimed negotiating prowess, really seems to have negotiated himself into a corner on this," said Phil Levy, senior fellow on the global economy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "He escalated way too fast with the tariffs. He honestly believed if he threw around really big numbers the Chinese would cave. They did not. He got stuck with some threats that he didn’t really want to carry out."