China Currency Bill Passes House, Senate Vote Planned for November

(World Trade Interactive)

The House of Representatives approved by a 348 to 79 vote Sept. 29 the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (H.R. 2378), which would allow an undervalued foreign currency to be considered a government subsidy that can be offset with countervailing duties on imports of specific goods from the offending country. A related bill in the Senate could be voted on after the congressional elections in November. The White House has not taken a position on either bill but acknowledged this week that the House action highlights the importance of this issue.

Supporters of H.R. 2378 say it will help reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China and boost domestic manufacturing employment, both issues projected to score well with voters still concerned about the struggling economy. Several key lawmakers said this week that one of the objectives of moving the bill forward is to give the Obama administration more leverage in its unilateral and multilateral efforts to convince China to let its currency appreciate. In recent weeks the president and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have both pressed Chinese leaders more than ever on this issue, but Beijing has maintained its position that it will manage the yuan according to China’s interests and not outside pressure. Read more here.

“Consumer Safety” Bill Could Boomerang against U.S. Manufacturers

(National Center for Policy Analysis – Daniel Griswold and Sallie James, Cato Institute)

Barriers to trade can be straightforward and transparent, or can take the form of rules and regulations proposed in the name of protecting public health and safety but have a secondary effect of restricting trade. An example of such a nontariff barrier is legislation now before Congress called the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act (FMLAA), say Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and Sallie James, a trade policy analyst with the center.

The sponsors of the legislation claim that their principal goal is to protect American consumers from unsafe foreign products, but there are warning signs that the bill may be more about restricting trade than protecting the public.

• The FMLAA would require foreign producers selling goods in the U.S. market to designate a legal agent located in the United States who could be served papers in a product liability suit.

• By registering an agent, the foreign producer would agree to accept the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of the state where the agent is located.

The concern raised by advocates of the legislation is that American consumers harmed by foreign products will not be able to collect damages if the foreign-based producer has no legal presence in the United States.

Americans damaged by faulty products, whether made abroad or domestically, should be able to seek compensation through the courts. But the approach advocated by supporters of the FMLAA would not solve the problem, say Griswold and James.

Read the original article here.

House Approves Two ‘Make it in America’ Provisions

(Sidley Austin LLP)

On September 15, the House of Representatives approved two bills aimed at bolstering U.S. manufacturing by requiring parts of the U.S. government to buy only U.S.-made products. Both bills would need to be approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama before they become law, but nonetheless signal a possible spate of “Buy American” legislation in the coming weeks.

The bills are:

1. The “Berry Amendment Extension Act,” which would require two agencies within the Department of Homeland Security to buy U.S.-made textiles, clothing, cotton and other related goods; and


2. The “Congressional Made in America Promise Act,” which requires goods and supplies used by Congress to be sourced in America, with limited exceptions.

The bills are part of the broader “Make it in America” legislative initiative launched by the Democratic leadership in Congress, which has been under increasing pressure to stimulate U.S. job creation and manufacturing. The initiative is still under development but could also include the consideration of a China currency bill and other pro-U.S. manufacturing legislation (the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act, H.R. 4678/S.1606, has been mentioned as a possibility) in the few weeks – perhaps only days – left before Congress adjourns for the mid-term elections. Read more here.

U.S. Manufacturers Welcome Improvements in Trade Practices

(Industry Week)

The ENFORCE Act of 2010 will give the Commerce Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection new tools to combat illegal schemes to evade special duties.

The Coalition for Enforcement of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders applauded a set of 14 proposals released by the U.S. Department of Commerce that would introduce changes in a variety of the agency’s practices.

“These changes will result in more accurate and effective trade orders,” said Joe Downes, spokesperson for the Coalition and Senior Vice President of Leggett & Platt, Inc.

At the same time, the Coalition noted the need for continued efforts to provide Commerce and U.S. Customs and Border Protection with enhanced capabilities and tools to combat illegal schemes to circumvent trade orders once they are in place. Read more here.

Senate Bill Calls for National Freight Policy

(JOCSailings.com – William B. Cassidy)

A national multimodal freight transportation plan is the goal of a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.Three Democratic senators are sponsoring legislation that would require the federal government to stake out a national policy for freight movement, encouraging multimodal transportation.

The bill hits Capitol Hill as the Obama administration prepares its principles for a long-term reauthorization of the surface transportation bill and Congress remains deadlocked over infrastructure funding.

A national freight transportation policy “that will meet the economic and mobility needs of the 21st century” is long overdue, said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., one of the bill’s sponsors. Read more here.

Experts Predict Passage of the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010 : What Does This Law Mean to U.S. Importers and Exporters?

(Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP)

One of the more controversial bills brewing in Congress is the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010. Although a variation of this bill was introduced in the Senate Finance Committee last year, it received little attention. Just last month, however, a House version of the bill passed the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, and many trade experts are now predicting that the bill will pass.

The Act was developed in response to reports of defective Chinese drywall that damaged houses and sickened people, and the uproar that resulted upon finding that the Chinese manufacturers could not be held accountable under U.S. law for the defective products. It would require foreign manufacturers of “covered products” to designate a registered U.S. agent to receive service of process on behalf of the company. This, in essence, would allow foreign manufacturers to be sued in the United States for any civil action related to those covered products. The law would also prohibit any person from importing covered products from manufacturers who do not have registered agents in the United States.

The products that would be covered under the act consist of those that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This includes – among other goods – consumer products, chemical substances, pesticides, cosmetics and motor vehicles. The law also extends to component parts of these products. Read more here.

Clarification of Grace Period for Encryption Registration Requirement

(World Trade Interactive)

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule clarifying the intent of the encryption registration requirements that appeared in a June 25 interim final rule June 25 interim final rule liberalizing export controls on encryption products.

According to BIS, the June 25 rule established an encryption registration requirement for authorization under provisions of license exception ENC and for transactions in connection with mass market encryption transactions. The rule specified that an encryption registration must be filed the first time a party submits an encryption classification request or performs an encryption self-classification on or after Aug. 24. The rule also stated that an encryption registration must be submitted in support of an encryption classification or in circumstances where a party is making a mass market encryption item eligible for export and re-export for the first time on or after Aug. 24. Read more here.

Manufacturers: Passage of Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Is Victory for Job Creation

(National Association of Manufacturers)

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO John Engler issued the following statement today after the House of Representatives voted to approve the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (H.R. 4380), the U.S. Manufacturing Enhancement Act:

“Manufacturers are pleased the House of Representatives passed the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) today. The NAM has been working relentlessly to educate Congress on the importance of this bill and how it will preserve and expand good American jobs. This legislation will also cut the costs of doing business in the United States and boost American manufacturing exports. In fact, studies show that if enacted, these provisions would increase production by $4.6 billion and support almost 90,000 jobs.

Manufacturers of all sizes use these vital tariff suspensions to obtain raw materials, proprietary inputs and other products that are not available in our nation. Without them, the costs of these companies’ products will inevitably increase, forcing them to pass on these costs to consumers. This hinders competitiveness and translates into lost jobs for American workers.

Further, the MTB process is wholly transparent and open to the public. Each proposed duty suspension is subject to a meticulous and non-partisan vetting process to ensure that no domestic producers of the affected product exist. The International Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Management and Budget and the congressional committees of jurisdiction collaborate to review each proposed duty suspension.

Manufacturers will continue to work with Congress as this bill moves through the legislative process

Message to House: Pass the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill

(Shopfloor.org)

The National Association of Manufacturers has sent a Key Vote letter to House members urging a yes vote on H.R. 4380, the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. Excerpt:

The MTB is one of the most important short-term actions Congress can take to preserve and expand good American jobs, cut the costs of doing business in the United States and boost American manufacturing exports. U.S. manufacturers large and small use the MTB’s tariff suspension provisions to obtain raw materials, proprietary inputs and other products that are not available in our nation.

Without the MTB, the cost of these companies’ products will inevitably increase, forcing them to pass higher costs on to consumers and making their products less competitive. These higher costs translate into lost jobs for American workers.

The MTB process is wholly transparent and open to the public. Each proposed duty suspension is subject to a meticulous and non-partisan vetting process to ensure that no domestic producers of the affected product exist. The International Trade Commission, U.S. Commerce Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Management and Budget and the congressional committees of jurisdiction collaborate to review each proposed duty suspension.

Transparent, reviewed by the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch alike, and benefiting no one congressional district: The tariff suspensions are not earmarks under any usual understanding of the term.

The letter notes that a July 2009 study by the economist, Andrew Szamosszegi of Capital Trade, Inc. concluded that enactment of the tariff bill would increase U.S. production by $4.6 billion while supporting nearly 90,000 jobs.

Unfortunately, the bill has been placed on the House suspensions calendar, where a two-thirds vote is necessary for passage.

Fortunately, the case for the bill is so strong that that margin is attainable.

The NAM uses Key Vote letters to determine a member of Congress’ voting record on manufacturing issues.

Note: After a brief period of debate in the House this morning, the final vote on HR 4380 was postponed due to request for recorded vote. Under the suspension rules, any request for the yeas and nays results in a postponement of the final vote. Accordingly, chances are dim for the MTB to be passed in this Congress.

CHRYSLER CORPORATION v. U.S.

(Leagle.com)

Appeal No. 2009-1267, U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit

Although the petition for by the appellant for a panel rehearing was denied, the dissenting opinion by Circuit Judge Pauline Newman is worth noting:

I respectfully dissent from the denial of Chrysler's petition for rehearing en banc. I write separately because of the importance of the issue in this era of electronic record-keeping, for the court holds that a government agency, Customs, can simply deny the correctness of its official electronic records, many years after the records were made and the underlying paper documents discarded, and then place the burden on the affected public to create fresh independent proof of the record or lose all benefit of the record. The government's refusal to rely, or permit the taxpayer to rely, on official government records, has profound consequences in today's electronic culture.

In this case, both the government and the taxpayer had routinely discarded the original hard copy documents that had been filed with the government before July 1, 1990, and from which the permanent electronic records had been made. Having destroyed the original documents and retained only the electronic records, the government has refused to refund the $782,407.45 that the electronic records show as export tax received from Chrysler before July 1, 1990. My colleagues have endorsed that position.

This ruling is of far-reaching import with respect to the status and presumed correctness of government electronic records.

Read more here.

U.S. Senators Unveil Climate Bill with ‘Carbon Tariff’ Provision

(Bridges Weekly)

United States Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced new draft climate legislation on Wednesday, ten months after the House of Representatives passed its own bill to cut US emissions of greenhouse gases.

Senators Kerry, a Democrat, and Lieberman, an Independent, are the chief sponsors of the nearly 1,000-page piece of legislation, which aims to bolster the U.S. contribution to addressing climate change while spurring economic growth and creating jobs at home. The bill is in line with the United States’ official international position to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide to 17% of 2005 levels by 2020. Read more here. An official 21-page summary of the bill is available here: here.

BIS Eliminates Many Paper Documents

(World Trade Interactive)

The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule that, effective May 5, will enable it to eliminate the paper versions of most export and re-export licenses, notices of denial of license applications, notices of return of a license application without action, notices of results of classification requests, license exception AGR notification results, and encryption review request results. This rule also changes certain recordkeeping requirements associated with the elimination of paper documents.

U.S. Senators Urge Renegotiation of U.S. Trade Deals

(Reuters – Doug Palmer)

A group of U.S. senators urged President Barack Obama on Monday to back legislation requiring the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a long list of other trade pacts they blame for millions of lost U.S. manufacturing jobs.

“We want trade and plenty of it, but we want trade under new rules. The TRADE Act will help Congress and the White House craft a trade policy that makes sense and learns from our many mistakes over the past couple of decades,” Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, told reporters in a conference call.

The bill, which has seven co-sponsors in the Senate, shows the strong opposition Obama could face from many members of his own Democratic Party if he pushes for new trade agreements without addressing concerns about past trade pacts. Six Democrats are among the co-sponsors, as well as independent Bernie Sanders. Read more here.

UPS vs. FEDEX: Ultimate Whiteboard Remix

(Reason TV)



You may have heard the UPS is in quite the political fight with FEDEX. Though both are package-delivery companies, they’re governed by totally different federal labor rules. As a result, UPS’s workforce is much more heavily unionized than FEDEX’s—and more than twice as expensive.

So now UPS is trying to get FEDEX reclassified under federal law as a way of screwing a competitor. That’s horrendous, but it also makes a sick kind of business sense. And it also reveals the real villain: A government that is big enough to absolutely, positively guarantee it can screw any business. Overnight.

“UPS Vs. FEDEX” was produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie (who also hosts).

Manufacturers Want Early Transport Bill

(Journal of Commerce Online – John D. Boyd)

Factory sector lobbying giant ties high-wage jobs to health of freight sector

Getting a new multi-year, federal transportation spending program approved by Congress quickly is a key to the health of the factory sector, says the head of the National Association of Manufacturers. “Transportation is more than just mobility for people and goods – it’s also about high wage manufacturing jobs,” said NAM President John Engler, as he urged lawmakers to speedily pass new legislation to replace the program that expires September 30.

He issued the remarks following approval June 24 by a House subcommittee of the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009.

Engler said those factory jobs depend on a healthy freight shipment system to bring in raw materials and distribute goods or equipment through the supply chain. “Transportation is the circulatory system of the nation’s economy,” Engler said. “We must keep it in excellent health.” Read more here.