House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said there should be “a reset of our trade agenda,” with less emphasis on tariffs “and more emphasis on international cooperation and multilateral relationships.” Neal, who was speaking to the New England Council on Nov. 23, said that “keeping the heat on China is important, but simultaneously, tariffs are not the only way to do it.”
Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said he plans to introduce a resolution in the Senate to open trade negotiations for a free trade agreement with Taiwan. Toomey said during a Heritage Foundation webinar on Taiwan Nov. 18, “We’ve got a particularly attractive opportunity to expand trade with Taiwan. Strengthening those trade ties with Taiwan would benefit us both in security terms and in economic growth.” He said Taiwan is the 10th-largest trading partner in goods for the U.S. Toomey, a consistent free-trader, said he hopes that talks will aim to liberalize trade, not manage it. China would be angered if the U.S. did seek an FTA with Taiwan, as it does not recognize the island as an independent country.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, will no longer lead the committee even if Republicans retain the majority in the Senate. The Republicans have term limits for committee chairmanships, so he will move on. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is the most senior member of the committee, and thus is the next expected chairman, though that move has not yet been settled.
Even as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held out hope for a President Joe Biden rolling back tariffs on imports from countries other than China, it doesn't expect Congress to limit a president's ability to impose tariffs without congressional approval. Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the Chamber and its top policy officer, said that if Biden were to win, “he may choose a slightly different path” on tariffs than Donald Trump has.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program could happen either by packaging the bill with an omnibus spending bill, or, if Congress just passes another temporary spending bill, by attachment to a tax extenders bill.
The Democrat who would lead the Finance Committee if the Senate majority changes parties after the election blasted President Donald Trump over labor, auto rules of origin, dairy and biotech export regulations, in a letter that said the benefits promised in renegotiating NAFTA have not been delivered. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote in the Oct. 30 letter that “the Administration has yet to bring any enforcement action under either the state-to-state dispute settlement or the new Rapid Response Mechanism despite the persistence of labor violations in Mexico.”
The Congressional Research Service issued a report Oct. 26 on U.S. semiconductor policy and global competition, including an analysis of the semiconductor supply chain, the current industry landscape and semiconductor-related legislation. Congress has introduced multiple bills to provide federal funding and incentives for the semiconductor industry (see 2007240010), but questions remain about how large federal tax benefits should be, how much the federal government should invest in research and development, and how long the funding and incentives should be sustained, the CRS said. The U.S. should also consider how partners and adversaries would respond to moves such as federal investment in R&D-related activities such as workforce training or federal spending to “ensure a domestic production source for some or all national security applications,” and whether the efforts should be made in collaboration with other “like-minded” countries “to incentivize R&D and supply chains and to counter China’s state-led policies.”
China’s new export control law (see 2010190033), which takes effect Dec. 1, appears to create a Chinese “counterweight” to U.S. export controls over dual-use technologies and includes provisions for “retaliatory action and extraterritorial jurisdiction,” the Congressional Research Service said in an Oct. 26 report. China may use the new law to impose controls against specific U.S. companies, on technologies the U.S. controls or on items in which China has “niche advantages or control over certain elements of global technology supply chains.” While the new law presents risks for the U.S., it could also backfire by driving the U.S. to work closer with partners on multilateral controls and licensing practices to better counter China, the CRS said. The report summarizes the law and its definitions and includes a catalog of newly controlled technologies released by China in August.
Two House Republicans applauded the White House’s national technology strategy for emerging and critical technologies, saying the strategy will help better coordinate agency efforts against China. Reps. Greg Walden of Oregon and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington said the strategy prioritizes U.S. efforts to maintain a “competitive edge” over China in emerging technologies. “This national strategy will streamline and better coordinate the federal government’s efforts in this space, ensure emerging technologies are created and deployed based on Western values, and set an example for fellow freedom-loving nations to follow suit,” Walden and Rodgers said in an Oct. 16 statement.
The U.S. should expand federal funding for technology research to help U.S. industries lead in areas such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and biotechnology, a House subcommittee said in an Oct. 6 report. The report outlines revisions for the U.S. intelligence committee to better support U.S. innovation and research, and said the government needs to act or risk falling behind in technology competition with China.