U.S. Legislative Update: Food Safety Could Move Soon as China, Preference Reform Loom

(World Trade Interactive)

Trade issues are expected to take a higher profile in Congress this year as the Obama administration makes trade policy a key part of its effort to add domestic jobs and encourage an economic recovery. Seeking to improve the balance of trade with China and to open foreign markets by implementing and negotiating free trade agreements are among the issues that have seen greater attention from both the administration and Congress. In the meantime, a food safety reform bill could pass Congress as early as this spring.

Food and Product Safety:
No major product safety legislation is expected this year given that both Congress and the administration are continuing to deal with implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act passed in 2008. However, efforts to revise the CPSIA in light of some of the difficulties identified to date are a possibility, as are measures to address emerging product safety concerns such as the replacement of lead with cadmium in children’s toys and products.

Instead, it is anticipated that lawmakers will focus their attention on finalizing a comprehensive bill to reform federal food safety efforts. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously approved its version of a food safety bill last November, following the House of Representatives’ approval in July of a somewhat different bill. HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said recently that he hopes to pass a food safety bill and send it to the White House by May.

China:
President Obama has indicated that urging China to revalue its currency will be a part of his administration’s efforts to increase domestic employment. Congress has taken a leading role on this issue in the past; e.g., introducing legislation that would have imposed retaliatory tariffs on all imports from China unless the yuan was revalued. While that option appears to have fallen out of favor for the most part, members of both the House and Senate have been raising the currency issue and suggesting specific remedies more frequently. The issue could take on an even higher profile in April depending on whether the Treasury Department names China as a currency manipulator in its semiannual report on foreign exchange rate practices.

Read the complete summary of pending legislative changes at STR/WTI here.