Congress

Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), eyeing larger and “more aggressive deals” under the Export-Import Bank’s novel China program, last week promoted new legislation he said would, in part, relax domestic content requirements for export financing in the high-tech industry.

Noting the administration has said one reason it needs broad Section 232 authority is “flexibility in case of an emergency,” Ernst and Grassley say “there’s clearly one now.”

No witnesses have been announced for the Sept. 17 virtual hearing.

Efforts to correct drafting errors in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement implementing bill are facing roadblocks, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said this week, adding that he hopes to address the provisions before the end of the year.

The administration of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is eyeing a unilateral rewrite of some of its obligations in the withdrawal bill agreed between the United Kingdom and the European Union earlier this year, an effort likely to jeopardize Democratic congressional support for a U.S.-UK trade deal.

“The tariffs will make products from a F-35 jet to a washing machine to a can of beer more expensive, thus making the value chain weaker and negatively impacting our economy.”

The future of the Trade Promotion Authority law may come down to who wins the White House in November, according to two prominent House Ways & Means Committee Democrats.

President Trump’s re-imposition of tariffs on Canadian aluminum could have serious implications for the implementation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) said this week.

Having dealt with longstanding U.S. market-access concerns, Taiwan is hoping to initiate trade negotiations before the end of the year, Taipei’s envoy to the U.S., Bi-Kuhn Hsiao, told Inside U.S. Trade this week.