Japan Trade Deal Hearing Will Probably Not Examine Text

Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer said he doesn't know if they'll to be able to evaluate the details of the U.S.-Japan skinny trade deal in the hearing scheduled for next week, because the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has not released the text yet. He said in a Nov. 13 interview it's “troubling" that the House Ways and Means Committee has not received text of the deal, which was signed Sept. 26. "Sometimes dealing with USTR can be a little opaque, which is one of my constants through several administrations," he said.

He said the subcommittee will hear from expert witnesses about what Congress can do when USTR bifurcates the negotiation process, and the resulting U.S. tariff reductions aren't large enough to require a vote under Trade Promotion Authority. He said the witnesses will talk about issues of TPA compliance and what a skinny trade deal means under World Trade Organization rules. Those rules forbid tariff differences for one country unless the country in question has signed a comprehensive trade deal.