A Senate bill with bipartisan support would require the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Turkish officials, according to a press release from the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The bill, the Defending United States Citizens and Diplomatic Staff from Political Prosecutions Act, was introduced April 9 by Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ben Cardin, D-Md. It would sanction senior Turkish officials responsible for the detention of several American citizens over the last few years, including scientist Serkan Golge and pastor Andrew Brunson. “Our bill makes clear that the United States will not tolerate years of Turkish recalcitrance on these cases,” Cardin said in a statement. “Officials in the [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan regime responsible for these crimes must be held accountable under Global Magnitsky standards for their ongoing injustices.”

House Republicans recently introduced a bill that would abolish the Export-Import Bank of the United States, saying the bank’s export subsidies give advantages to specific industries while harming domestic competition and certain sectors of the U.S. economy. If passed, the bank would be abolished three years after the bill’s enactment date. The bill contains a provision that would make the secretary of the Treasury responsible for any “outstanding obligations of the Federal Government under any programs terminated” by the bill. The bill would also terminate the Office of Inspector General for the bank, transferring the office’s obligations to the Treasury. The bill, the "Export-Import Bank Termination Act," was sponsored by Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., and five other House Republicans. It was introduced March 27 and referred to the House Financial Services Committee.

The Department of the Treasury may soon sanction government officials in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted while he was being questioned April 9 during a House hearing for the department’s 2020 budget request.

A House Democrat and Republican recently introduced a bill that would modify financing of certain U.S. exports to Cuba, allowing exporters to enter into contracts with certain Cuban agricultural businesses. The bill, introduced March 27 by Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., would amend a section in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 to allow U.S. “investment” in Cuba, according to the bill. The bill defines investment as purchasing a share of ownership of an agricultural business, sharing in profits of a business or entering into a contract to “sell goods, services, or technology relating to the agricultural business.” Currently, U.S. agricultural exporters are not allowed to “extend credit” to Cuban buyers, the bill said, causing exports to Cuba to decline and placing U.S. exporters at a “key disadvantage relative to other exporting countries.”

A Republican and a Democratic representative are urging the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services to fully fund the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in the wake of the president's 2019 budget request. Reps. Denny Heck, D-Wash., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., were planning to send a letter to the subcommittee about the critical role played by CFIUS, which was reformed in 2018 when Congress passed the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA). FIRRMA expanded the jurisdiction of CFIUS when the committee reviews transactions by foreign entities in the U.S. to determine their effect on national security, according to the Treasury Department. Among many changes, FIRRMA expanded which transactions CFIUS can review and allowed it to undertake lengthier investigations. In their letter, the representatives stressed the importance of granting “dedicated funds” to CFIUS, as the Treasury recommended in its budget request. “Lack of resources would impair how effectively CFIUS can enforce mitigation agreements and its ability to maintain awareness of relevant non-notified transactions,” the letter says.

The House passed a bill that would prohibit the trade of defense-related products and services to the security forces of Venezuela, potentially further restricting the Nicolas Maduro regime's access to weapons. The bill, called the Venezuela Arms Restriction Act, was passed in the House on March 25. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 26 but has not yet seen a vote.

Because the Trump administration has cheered on Brexit, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., thinks Congress should not consent to starting negotiations with the United Kingdom on a free trade agreement. Murphy, who spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York April 1, said the U.S. should reach a free trade agreement with the European Union first. Though, in a quick acknowledgement of the difficulty the two sides had during Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks, Murphy added "or at least give that FTA a serious try."

Six Democratic senators introduced a bill that would place sanctions on any current or former employee or person associated with the Guatemalan government after the U.S. found evidence of widespread corruption in the country. The bill, called the Guatemala Rule of Law Accountability Act, would impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allows for the imposition of sanctions on foreign people or governments who have committed human rights violations. The president has 90 days after being notified of the bill's enactment to impose the sanctions, according to the text of the bill, which was introduced March 7. The bill’s co-sponsors are Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

After 25 Republican House members met with President Donald Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to talk about how to ratify the new NAFTA, Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said on Fox Business News March 26 that he thinks Congress can do it before the August recess.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, told fair trade and health activists in Oregon that he's not comfortable advancing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement the way it's written now. Blumenauer, D-Ore., held a town hall March 21, which was attended by members of Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, health care unions and other liberal groups, according to a blog post by the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign.