A Republican staffer from the House Ways and Means Committee said that while Republicans are certainly open to having a discussion on the balance between preserving the benefit to small businesses of importing goods under the de minimis statute and the need for improvements, a conference committee on a massive China package is not the right venue for it.
A center-right think tank noted that with the International Trade Commission saying safeguard tariffs on imported solar panels and cells should continue, and the Department of Justice appealing a ruling that tariffs on bifacial solar panels weren't legal, the White House is likely to continue the safeguard tariffs past the original February expiration date. The American Action Forum said Jan. 14 that is a poor choice, with the U.S. paying twice as much for solar panels as other countries as a result. "Utility-scale bifacial solar modules are the most important for President Biden’s climate agenda because they are the most efficient and will be increasingly used in large utility-scale energy projects. Despite the years of tariffs intended to boost domestic production of these utility-scale solar modules, they are still not manufactured in the United States."
The House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he will bring the massive America COMPETES bill up for a vote soon. While it may not need to attract any Republican votes to pass there, a bipartisan compromise will be necessary in conference. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said that the Senate's U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) was not adequate, aside from the issue that revenue measures, such as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, must start in the House. "This legislation is the boldest, best option we have to stand up to China’s harmful actions and support American workers, and I look forward to discussing these proposals further during our conference on the package with the Senate," he said.
Iowa Republican senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are asking the Biden administration to complete free trade agreements in Asia, or rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as China expands its influence through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). They wrote Jan. 25: "Initially, your administration stated they were content with focusing on your domestic agenda before they consider negotiating new free trade agreements. However, a year later, it is clear that your domestic agenda has been stalled while China is taking serious action to expand their foothold in the region."
All 14 of the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are telling colleagues in their chamber that providing a $12,500 incentive to purchase union-made, U.S.-assembled electric vehicles will spur foreign retaliation against American auto exports. The House version of Build Back Better offers a $7,500 refundable tax credit for any electric vehicle purchase -- the same amount as current law, but makes it refundable and does not phase it out for leading manufacturers. Currently, Tesla and General Motors vehicles are no longer eligible for the credits. But in order to receive $12,500, the car or truck would need to include a U.S.-assembled battery and be made by union workers in the United States.
Imports from Haiti and the 16 Caribbean countries and U.S. territories covered by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act declined 8.9% in 2020 from 2019, after a 8.2% decline from 2018 to 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reported. In 2020, the countries collectively exported $5.1 billion in goods to the U.S. -- behind faraway Slovakia. These imports represent only .2% of imports in 2020. The USTR attributed the decline to COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission used to hear critiques that it was too negative about China, too focused on threats from what is now the world's second-largest economy. "There were a lot of people who thought we were outliers," said Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew, who once served as Rep. Nancy Pelosi's chief of staff, before the California Democrat became speaker of the House. "We are not outliers anymore. And that’s not because the commission’s views have changed. The entire debate has shifted."
Both the bipartisan Senate and the Democratic versions of a Generalized System of Preferences benefits program renewal try to make the program do too much, says a think tank author who helped to administer GSP when he was assistant U.S. trade representative for trade policy and economics. GSP covers 3,500 of 6,900 tariff lines that are above 0, he noted, but it still covers only 11% of exports to the U.S. from GSP countries because of the categories that are excluded.
Six Democratic and two Republican senators are asking President Joe Biden to overrule the International Trade Commission and allow the safeguard tariffs on solar panels and cells to lapse in February, as they were originally scheduled to do. Three Republican and two Democratic senators are asking the president to retain the tariffs for another four years, and to restore tariffs on bifacial solar panels, which were collected for about a year, until the Court of International Trade said applying tariffs to bifacial solar panels after they were originally excluded was unlawful. That decision, from November (see 2111160032), is being appealed.
Almost a third of House members are asking U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to reopen exclusion applications to all importers of Chinese goods subject to Section 301 tariffs. Roughly $250 billion worth of Chinese imports annually are subject to an additional 25% tariff under Section 301; another $112 billion worth of imports are subject to an additional 7.5% tariff.