The administration needs to open up a fair, timely and transparent exclusions process for Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady said, but he doesn't know what the U.S. trade representative's timetable will be on deciding whether that will happen. He said he hopes it will be very soon. Brady, R-Texas, spoke to reporters on a conference call March 3. “One of the reasons I continue to push this administration to not simply follow through on compliance with the phase one agreement but to go further into phase two” is because once agreements are hammered out, he thinks, it will be time to begin to roll back those tariffs, he said.

Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, was confirmed by the Senate to be the next commerce secretary, on an 84-15 vote March 2. She will resign as governor so that she can join President Joe Biden's Cabinet.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said March 2 that he hasn't yet gone over Katherine Tai's written answers after her hearing but that he expects to vote for her confirmation as U.S. trade representative. Although he didn't work with Tai personally on USMCA, he said his team did so and “had nothing but good things to say about her.” Grassley said he doesn't expect to be able to tell how trade policy is going to unfold from the written answers (see 2103010026). “I think she’ll be approved a long time before we know exactly how” President Joe Biden's “administration is going to handle U.K.” negotiations, if it's going rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, “what they’re going to do in regard to China, what they’re going to do in sub-Saharan Africa, like [President Donald] Trump was starting with Kenya,” he said during a conference call with reporters. “I think you’re going to get well into the middle of the year before you see any direction.”

The Senate Finance Committee will vote March 3 on the nominations of Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative and Wally Adeyemo as deputy treasury secretary.

In written questions to U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai, she was pressed to argue for U.S. agricultural export interests around the world, and asked how China could be moved to meet more of its promises to buy American exports, agricultural and otherwise.

More than 20 Republican senators are sponsoring a bill that would allow Congress to approve or block efforts by the Biden administration to lift sanctions against Iran. The bill, introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., would serve as a “check” on President Joe Biden's plan to rejoin the Iranian nuclear deal (see 2101280043), Hagerty said Feb. 26. “The United States cannot fall victim again to Tehran’s blackmail, bribery, and extortion by giving into its demands for sanctions relief,” Hagerty said.

Democratic senators introduced a bill that would impose sanctions on the Honduran president and suspend certain export licenses for controlled defense shipments to Honduras. Under the bill, introduced Feb. 23, the U.S. would designate Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez for “significant corruption” and human rights abuses, the lawmakers said. It would also block the U.S. from issuing export licenses for shipments of controlled defense items, services and munitions to Honduran police or military forces.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he directed lawmakers this week to begin crafting legislation to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor industry to out-compete China. The legislation will include a bipartisan bill introduced by Schumer and other lawmakers last year that would increase U.S. investment in technology, research and high-tech manufacturing (see 2006010011), Schumer said, adding that the legislation will also include other semiconductor industry initiatives. Schumer said he plans to call for a vote on the legislation this spring. “[W]e need to get a bill like this to the president's desk quickly to protect America's long-term economic and national security,” Schumer said Feb. 23. The Semiconductor Industry Association applauded Schumer’s comments and said investing in U.S. innovation is “key” to out-competing China (see 2102180062). “We urge the Biden administration and Congress to invest boldly in domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research,” SIA President John Neuffer said.

The Congressional Research Service issued a Feb. 23 report on U.S. export restrictions on Huawei, including various measures taken by the Commerce Department and supply-chain considerations for industry. The 36-page report describes the consequences of Huawei’s placement on the Entity List, changes made by Commerce last year to the Foreign Direct Product rule and more.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the U.S. trade representative nominee has “really extraordinary skill in bringing people together,” and that it's critical to confirm her, deputy Treasury secretary nominee Wally Adeyemo, and the Health and Human Services secretary, so they can get to work. Wyden, who spoke with reporters Feb. 22, didn't spend much time on trade issues, but he said he thinks Katherine Tai is “going to do a first-rate job” heading the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.