The U.S. Congress is in recess until after the 8 November elections. The House of Representatives will reconvene on Monday, 14 November, and the Senate the following day. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) published its long awaited Federal Register notice on 14 October regarding the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) petition process. Petitions for duty … Continue Reading
The U.S. Congress is in recess until after the 8 November elections. TPP – Ryan Reiterates No-Go. In an interview last week, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) reiterated the votes do not exist in the U.S. House of Representatives for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal: Yeah we’re not going to bring that up … Continue Reading
The U.S. Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday after a six-week recess. On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) issued a statement on the perceived lack of strong U.S. leadership, setting the stage for potentially-increased Republican oversight this fall: Just as we saw our allies in Europe dissing us over the … Continue Reading
TPP – ITC Report Released. Late Wednesday afternoon, the ITC released its report on the effects of the proposed TPP on the U.S. economy. The nearly 800-page report examines specific industry sectors in the United States and seeks to ascertain which would benefit or suffer from the deal. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman immediately issued … Continue Reading
MTB Developments – House Acts on the Reform Bill; Senate Fails to Act. The House passed its MTB reform bill on 27 April. The Senate attempted to “hotline” the House-passed MTB reform bill on Thursday, a procedure used to test whether there are any objections to passing a bill under unanimous consent. However, the Senate … Continue Reading
The House Ways and Means Committee marked up a bill (H.R. 4923) last Wednesday that would reform the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) process. The full House will consider the measure this Wednesday under suspension of the rules, which is reserved for non-controversial bills. The House will also consider the Senate-passed version of the Defend Trade … Continue Reading
Global Steel Crisis Examined. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker co-chaired a two-day hearing last week on the global steel crisis, where U.S. lawmakers called for a better way to prevent foreign suppliers from flooding the U.S. market with subsidized steel. While chairing the first day, Ambassador Froman stated that the … Continue Reading
Global Steel Crisis. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Commerce Department will hold a joint hearing on 12 April that will focus on global steel overcapacity, just ahead of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) steel committee meeting next week on the same topic. TPP Developments – Trying to … Continue Reading
