Senate Finance to Look at Legislation on AD/CV Duty Evasion, AGOA Third-Country Fabric Provision

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) scheduled a mark up of several pieces of trade-related legislation on July 18. Among other things, the committee will consider that would give permanent normal trade relations status to Russia and repeal the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which has been in place since 1974 to restrict trade with communist countries. The Committee is to consider on Wednesday the Magnitsky Act sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.).

(See ITT's Online Archives 12061238 for summary of the Russian PNTR bill introduction. Text of the bill is (here).

The Finance Committee will also markup three other proposals: a modified version of the Enforcing Orders and Reducing Customs Evasion (ENFORCE) Act; a proposal to establish, renew, or modify the citrus, wool and cotton trust funds; and a proposal to amend provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and to reauthorize and renew Burma sanctions.

The Enforce Act of 2011, HR-3057 would establish new procedures for investigating claims that foreign manufacturers are evading anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders to better enforce trade laws and prevent illegal imports. Text of the bill is (here). The legislation is part of the Congressional Democrats' "Make it in America" agenda, a push to add U.S. manufacturing jobs.

(See ITT's Online Archives 11052734 for summary of a Congressional subcommittee hearing on the Enforce Act)

The AGOA legislation, S-3326, is said to improve U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. The bill would extend a key provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), extending a Third-Country Fabric (TCF) provision that allows African countries to use third-country fabric and then export that into the U.S. The Republic of South Sudan would also be added to the list of 48 sub-Saharan nations eligible to qualify for duty-free access to the U.S. market for certain products, including apparel, footwear and textiles.

That legislation would also make technical changes to the CAFTA-DR textiles and apparel provisions. The changes were agreed to by Trade Ministers during the February 2011 CAFTA-DR Free Trade Commission meetings and all CAFTA-DR countries except the U.S. have already approved the changes this legislation codifies, the legislators said. The bill would also reauthorize import sanctions against Burma for three years, while preserving the Administration’s right to waive or terminate those sanctions. Text of the bill is (here).

(See ITT's Online Archives 12062235 for summary of the AGOA legislation.)

The mark up is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on July 18 in Room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.