Rep. Kevin Brady, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, continues to argue that passing the same trade preferences bill that passed the Senate as part of its China package is the best way to get the programs renewed quickly. Brady, of Texas, who spoke to reporters July 20, said that the Senate version of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill is practical reform. In contrast, he called Trade Subcommitee Chairman Earl Blumenauer's bill ideological, and said it would lead to fewer countries qualifying for GSP. "Am I hopeful that we can bridge the gap? I am. We’ve begun discussions with Ways and Means Democrats on these issues," he said, in response to a question from International Trade Today. "They are in early stages." He said that there are members from both parties on the committee in the talks, along with Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association asked the Biden administration to bring businesses, shippers and port authorities to the table to find short-term solutions to the shipping crisis.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers trade and tax expert told an audience at the U.S. Fashion Industry Association Virtual Washington Trade Symposium that while the prospect of trade liberalization in the next few years is low, he does not think that threatened tariffs on apparel and other goods from European countries, Turkey and India will be levied in November, in retaliation for digital services taxes. Scott McCandless, who spoke July 14 at the virtual conference, said that although it will be "a complicated dance both internationally and domestically" to arrive at an agreement on the intertwined issues of minimum corporate taxes and digital services taxes, he thinks it's more likely than not that Congress will pass a tax bill this fall that would give countries the right to levy taxes on multinationals that do business in their countries. If that happens, he said, "The DSTs likely go away, and the proposed tariffs on countries that have DSTs will go away as well."
Concerns about apparel shipments being detained due to a withhold release order were the biggest worry for U.S. Fashion Industry Association Virtual Washington Trade Symposium attendees, and USFIA customs counsel John Pellegrini told them he had no news to allay their fears.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from June 21-25 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who introduced a bill a week ago to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (see 2106170040), said the introduction of a competing bill by the ranking Republicans on the subcommittee and full committee does not alter his assessment of how easy or difficult it will be to move the bills through the House. The Republican bill is largely a copy of the Senate GSP/MTB bill, though there are 60 fewer products in both House MTB lists.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters during a press conference June 24 that there's strong bipartisan support for bringing back expired Section 301 exclusions, and refunding the tariffs paid since they expired.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from June 14-18 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee expressed disappointment at the Generalized System of Preferences bill introduced by the Trade Subcommittee chairman, so they introduced their own version, which is identical to the amendment that passed the Senate with 91 votes. The bill, introduced June 22 by the top Republicans on the committee and the subcommittee, also renews the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, but with a few more products removed from the list after additional objections in the House. According to an analysis by Crowell and Moring, the Senate MTB covers 1,423 products, and the House Democrats' version covers 1,363 products. A spokesperson for Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., said the Republican bill covers the same MTB list as the Democrats' bill.
The Generalized System of Preferences benefits program renewal and Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, as revenue bills, must start in the House, and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., has a distinctly different take on the longstanding programs than the version that recently passed the Senate with 91 votes.