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The following story is from the March 12 issue of International
Trade Reporter
Current Reports:
Trade Policy
Rep. Levin Wants to Move Quickly on Bill
On Trade Enforcement; March Action Unlikely
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said March 10 that he hoped that Congress would move a trade enforcement bill soon.
He said the subcommittee would be working with the Senate as well as the new administration but that he viewed March passage as unlikely because of the economic crisis. “We're going to work with the administration to set the timetable,” he told reporters after an organizational meeting of the subcommittee.
A trade enforcement measure was introduced in the House by Levin and House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel
(D-N.Y.) early this year (26 ITR 91, 1/22/09. A similar measure is expected to be introduced in the Senate.
“We hope to move it expeditiously,” Levin told reporters.
Asked if U.S. trade enforcement legislation would be seen as protectionist by trading partners, Levin said it should not be since it is aimed at enforcing “the rule of law and the openness of markets.”
Levin's comments follow U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk's March 9 statement to the Senate Finance Committee at his confirmation hearing that the Obama administration's first order of business will be strong enforcement of trade rules (44 WTO Reporter, 3/10/09).
Levin said that the subcommittee's agenda should be prioritized. A list distributed at the subcommittee organizational meeting listed several potential items for consideration. These were: the president's recently released trade agenda; enforcement, including market access and unfair trade as well as the National Trade Estimate report scheduled for release on March 31; the pending free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea as well as oversight of existing FTAs; the World Trade Organization's Doha Round; trade aspects of climate change; expiring trade preference programs and new trade preferences for Pakistan and Afghanistan and Georgia; miscellaneous trade bill;
oversight agenda, including trade agency reauthorization, review of the trade advisory review system and trade adjustment assistance implementation.
The list cited “other potential subjects” as Russia and Kazakhstan permanent normal trade relations, sanctions (Burma renewal), potential additional FTAs, and trade promotion authority.
NTE Report Expected
During the organizational meeting, Levin said that he expected that USTR's March 31 release of the National Trade Estimate report, which catalogs major trade barriers facing U.S. exporters in various countries, will be more than “writing on a page.” Levin and other Democrats were critical of the Bush administration for not following up with WTO cases against many of the trade barriers listed in previous NTE reports.
Levin acknowledged that trade would not be a “front-burner”
issue for Congress or the Obama administration during turbulent economic times. However, since trade is related to economic issues, it is likely to be addressed “probably sooner than later,” he said.
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the top Republican on the subcommittee, commented that “enforcement does matter”
but expressed an interest on moving forward with the pending free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea.
Levin declined comment on the Panama FTA when pressed by reporters after the hearing. Kirk at his confirmation hearing refused to commit to moving the pending Colombia, Panama, and Korean free trade agreements through Congress in the next year, but said he believed that the Panama FTA was the closest to being ready to move.
In Levin's view, the new administration will want to actively engage with Congress on trade issues—much more so than the Bush administration. “There will be much more back and forth with this administration than there was in previous years,”
he remarked.
There was a tendency in the previous administration's implementation of the trade advisory committee mechanism to “listen to friends and not those who disagreed with [them],” Levin said. Some groups, including labor, were shut out of the process, he added. “That won't work,” he said.
Levin also commented that he hoped that the subcommittee could be very active in its oversight of FTAs.
Doha, Trade Preferences on Agenda
While the World Trade Organization's Doha Round is currently in limbo, it will clearly be on the subcommittee's agenda, Levin said.
Levin also remarked that he did not believe that the Obama administration would be coming forward with a proposal to renew trade promotion authority at this time. In the event that they do, they understand that “it will have to be something very different.” TPA, which has expired, shielded legislation implementing trade agreements from congressional amendment after formal introduction.
Since both the Generalized System of Preferences and the Andean Trade Preference Act will expire on Dec. 31, 2009, the subcommittee cannot ignore these trade preference issues, Levin said. He also said that the panel will take up a bill that would allow for duty-free imports from Pakistan and Afghanistan coming from specially designated zones. While it could be possible to move the bill quickly, “no one should suggest that anything related to Pakistan or Afghanistan is automatic or easy,” Levin said. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a sponsor of the legislation, said that the Obama administration backed the measure
(H.R. 1318).
Upcoming hearings of the subcommittee include one on March 24 on the trade aspects of climate change; an anticipated hearing on advisory committee oversight in the spring; a trade agency oversight hearing expected in the spring or early summer; and a hearing on investment at a time to be determined.
By Rossella Brevetti
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