PREPARE FOR CHINA WEEK: House leadership is looking at late September to vote on various China-related bills which could cover the de minimis trade threshold and outbound investment, four people close to discussions told Morning Trade. A schedule has not yet been finalized, but votes are expected to coincide with a so-called China Week next month. Hill staffers have indicated the week functions as a platform to sharpen consensus on bills targeting China’s unfair trade practices and threats to national security, following bipartisan and bicameral disagreements over how to handle these issues. The update comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson said in July that he hopes to send the White House China legislation by the end of this year that would empower the next president to take tougher action against Beijing. “The House will be voting on a series of bills to empower the next administration to hit our enemies' economies on day one. We'll build our sanctions package, punish the Chinese military firms that provide material support to Russia and Iran, and we'll consider options to restrict outbound investments,” Johnson said during a discussion at the Hudson Institute. The bills are expected to be brought for a vote individually rather than as part of a larger bundle, which two House aides tell Morning Trade they hope will help ease the process of passing bipartisan measures. Legislation that would halt federal contracts with biotech companies in adversarial regions known as the BIOSECURE Act, and measures to bolster export controls could also be taken up next month, the House aides confirmed. Johnson’s office did not respond to Morning Trade’s request for comment. Outbound fight continues: The House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees are still at odds over outbound investment. Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and ranking member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) support a measure that would build on President Joe Biden’s executive order directing the Treasury Department to create an outbound investment screening mechanism. Top House Financial Services Republicans, including Chair Patrick McHenry, support a sanctions-based approach. A House working group has since sought to negotiate a compromise. Hope for de-minimis? Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) unveiled a bipartisan bill last week to reform the de minimis trade provision that has fueled a flood of low-value imports from Chinese fast-fashion giants and other suppliers. This could help break a stalemate that has developed in the House over similar legislation. Earlier this year, the House Ways and Means Committee, on a Republican party-line vote, passed the End China’s De Minimis Abuse Act, which would bar any goods hit by certain trade remedy tariffs from receiving duty-free treatment under the de minimis program. But House Democrats favor the Import Security and Fairness Act crafted by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) that would essentially bar de minimis treatment for all goods from China — or any other country that is categorized as a non-market economy under U.S. trade remedy law and is on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's priority watch list for intellectual property theft or abuse.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment