A bipartisan group of lawmakers urged the Federal Maritime Commission to penalize carriers that decline to carry U.S. agricultural exports and asked for monthly updates on the FMC’s investigation into the matter (see 2011200024 and 2102170060). In a March 9 letter, more than 100 House members said they are concerned by reports carriers are sending empty containers back overseas rather than filling them with exports because the carriers can charge higher rates for imports (see 2103050014). “Such activity constricts entire supply chains and propels trade to move only in an inbound direction,” the lawmakers said. “These conditions are unsustainable for exporters, put significant strain on the U.S. economy, and simply unacceptable.”
The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a bill that would allow Congress to approve or block efforts by President Joe Biden's administration to lift sanctions against Iran. The bill -- introduced March 9 by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, with support from 20 other Republican committee members -- is the House’s companion legislation to a similar bill introduced by Senate Republicans last month (see 2102260025). McCaul said the administration has “already started making concessions in an apparent attempt to start negotiations with Iran” and the bill would provide “oversight” for any sanctions relief offered by the U.S. The administration hasn’t lifted any sanctions against Iran and expects a challenging road back to the Iranian nuclear deal or a new agreement (see 2101280043).
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that now that the tariffs are suspended in the Airbus-Boeing dispute, he's interested in seeing “how do the negotiations go? I said last week that I didn’t object to taking the tariffs off if we can get a solution to this thing that’s been going on for … years.” Grassley, a Senate Finance Committee member who was speaking to reporters on a conference call March 8, said he doesn't think the Senate will vote on Katherine Tai's confirmation for U.S. trade representative this week. “But she’s surely going to be done before Easter break,” he said.
House Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., told an online audience that over the next four months, the U.S. government is going to set the stage for a trade program that supports environmental goals. Blumenauer, a longtime environmentalist, said he's not concerned that the European Union will dictate the terms of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, since its politicians have a head start. “We’ve had preliminary discussions, we’re going to have more,” he said during a webinar March 5 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on environment and trade.
More than two dozen lawmakers urged the Federal Maritime Commission to penalize ocean carriers for declining to carry U.S. exports, saying the practices may violate shipping regulations and should be met with enforcement actions. Ocean carriers are denying bookings to U.S. exporters because the carriers can charge more for imports, 24 senators from both sides of the aisle said in a March 2 letter. In a separate letter, Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., said the practice is “extremely harmful” to U.S. farmers, especially apple and pear exporters in Washington state.
The Senate Finance Committee unanimously voted March 3 to forward to the full Senate the nominations of Katherine Tai for U.S. trade representative and Wally Adeyemo for deputy treasury secretary.
The administration needs to open up a fair, timely and transparent exclusions process for Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Kevin Brady said, but he doesn't know what the U.S. trade representative's timetable will be on deciding whether that will happen. He said he hopes it will be very soon. Brady, R-Texas, spoke to reporters on a conference call March 3. “One of the reasons I continue to push this administration to not simply follow through on compliance with the phase one agreement but to go further into phase two” is because once agreements are hammered out, he thinks, it will be time to begin to roll back those tariffs, he said.
The Airforwarders Association asked the Biden administration to consider “revising several regulatory ordinances that are preventing progress and inhibiting efficiency across a wide range of businesses,” it said March 3. The association, which represents more than 275 cargo companies, did not elaborate on what those regulations are. “Congress must prioritize the passage of a long-term, fully funded transportation and infrastructure bill that reauthorizes the FAST act and allows for substantial federal investment in our nation’s ports, airports, and highways,” the association told the administration. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, or FAST, passed in 2015 and authorized spending through fiscal year 2020, which ended last September.
The Congressional Research Service issued a March 1 report on Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. snapback sanctions imposed under President Donald Trump's administration. The report details the dispute between European signatories of the Iran nuclear deal and the Trump administration over whether the U.S. had the authority to impose snapback sanctions (see 2008210009). It also lays out the impact that snapback sanctions could have on Iran and covers the conditions Iran must meet to remain in compliance with the deal. President Joe Biden's administration said it wants to rejoin the deal or craft a new one, and is willing to meet with Iran, but Iran declined that offer (see 2103010053).
Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, was confirmed by the Senate to be the next commerce secretary, on an 84-15 vote March 2. She will resign as governor so that she can join President Joe Biden's Cabinet.