On Tuesday, January 7, 2020, the Senate Finance Committee approved the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by a vote of 25-3. The markup of President Trump’s replacement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) provided several surprises, at least from a traditional trade policy perspective. … Continue Reading
On March 14, 2017, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced new legislation to “give top U.S. agriculture and food officials permanent representation on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).” (Senator Grassley Press Release, Grassley, Stabenow Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect American Agricultural Interests in Foreign Acquisitions, Mar. … 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
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