Obama Signs Omnibus Spending Bill into Law, Secures ACE and CBP Funding for FY 2016

President Barack Obama signed the omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2016, providing $829.5 million for operation and improvement of CBP automation expenses, including $151.2 million set aside for Automated Commercial Environment development on Dec. 18 (here). Overall, the bill includes $8.6 billion for CBP, and also seeks to avoid Canadian and Mexican retaliatory tariffs by repealing meat country-of-origin labeling (COOL) regulations recently found by the World Trade Organization to violate global trade rules (see 1512160019).

Before the bill was signed, the National Foreign Trade Council applauded congressional passage of the bill, noting its lift of the oil export ban and repeal of COOL labeling requirements for beef and pork. "The repeal of COOL requirements is a wise decision by the U.S. Senate to comply with our international obligations," NFTC President Bill Reinsch said in a statement. "It not only demonstrates our nation’s commitment to a rules-based trading system, but also avoids costly retaliation from regional trade partners. Following years of inaction, we can finally put the dispute to rest and forge a more prosperous future for all of North America.”

The COOL provisions are especially important following a recent WTO arbitrator finding that Canada and Mexico can soon legally retaliate against U.S.-made exported goods by levying more than $1 billion in tariffs (see 1512070017), said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry (here). "From the ranchers in Kansas to the jewelry makers on the East Coast, every state had something to lose from keeping mandatory COOL intact," Roberts said. "Those worries can now be put to rest, and I’m proud to say the Senate has voted to protect the American economy."

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body on Dec. 21 backed its arbitrator's decision that Mexico and Canada can suspend their reductions on tariffs paid by the U.S., ruling that Canada can assess $1.1 billion annually, and that Mexico can levy a yearly amount of $227.8 million. But the U.S. delegate to the WTO during the last day of the organization's Ministerial Conference in Nairobi on Dec. 18, said that these retaliatory tariffs are now "obsolete," because the COOL repeal became law upon Obama's signature of the omnibus.