Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and seven other Republicans, have introduced a bill that would require the administration "respond to a cyberattack either with sanctions or a classified/unclassified report for Congress to explain why they are not acting to create more accountability," Pfluger said in a press release announcing the introduction March 30.
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which aims to end unreasonable detention and demurrage and make ocean carriers accept more exports, passed the Senate by a voice vote on March 31.
Senators on the committee that oversees trade pressed U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai repeatedly on why the administration isn't engaged in negotiations with other countries to get them to lower their tariffs, so that U. S.exporters, particularly agricultural producers, can gain more market share. Both Democrats and Republicans questioned the decision to pursue the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework as something other than a traditional free trade agreement.
During a hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee March 30, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai was asked by many Republicans and a few Democrats why the administration has ruled out cutting tariffs to convince negotiating partners in Asia to open their markets, and why it has shied away from continuing free trade agreement negotiations started during the previous administration.
Sen. John Thune, the South Dakota Republican who serves as his party's top vote-counter, told reporters at the Capitol that a bill to remove permanent normal trade relations status from Russia is stalled in the Senate over one Republican's disagreement on the Magnitsky Act renewal. He said that Democrats are negotiating with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on the language he wants regarding the Magnitsky Act. "They're still trying to negotiate, and hopefully they'll be able to find a path forward, but as of right now, it's hung up, and I don't see that busting loose this week, and next week is the Supreme Court [nomination vote], so it doesn't look like anything's likely to happen on that until after the Easter break."
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, introduced the Preventing Labor Union Slowdowns (Plus) Act, which would revise the National Labor Relations Act to define a labor slowdown by port unions as an unfair labor practice. It also would change the labor law to say that labor unions' negotiations against port automation are an unfair labor practice.
The top trade official on the European Commission said that Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine revealed how important it was that he and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai "spent last year fixing some aspects of U.S.-EU relations," and then moved to a forward-looking agenda with the Trade and Technology Council. Tai, who spoke remotely to the Brussels business audience hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in the EU on March 24, called EC Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis a good friend.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., the top Republican on the House Agriculture subcommittee that covers trade, told Farmers For Free Trade that ag exporters "want China to live up to their commitments, but we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket."
BALTIMORE -- U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai continued to throw cold water on the idea of reviving negotiations for a free-trade agreement with the United Kingdom, saying, "A free trade agreement is a tool. It is a very 20th century tool. It has its place certainly in the toolbox," she said, but said that she wants these U.K.-U.S. economic dialogues to be "maximally responsive" to today's trade challenges. She said she wants to make sure "that we don’t spend years and spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears working on something that isn't going to be relevant to the needs of our people or our economies."
Private sector and government leaders from around the world talked about what their firms are doing and how the World Trade Organization could be a forum for creating smoother flowing supply chains.