Ways and Means Republican Wants to Advance Section 232 Reform Bill

During a wide-ranging interview on trade with International Trade Today, Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., said she would like to advance Section 232 reform in the House, get the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill back in place, and, if warranted, weigh in with the U.S. trade representative on USMCA.

Walorski, who was vocal about the shortcomings of the Section 232 exclusion processes during the Trump administration, was an original co-sponsor of a bill that would have given Congress the authority to stop import restrictions by a joint resolution. It mirrored Sen. Rob Portman's bill, which the Ohio Republican reintroduced in March (see 2103160037).

Walorski said she had her concerns with how the previous administration used the national security tariff and quota provisions, "but my concern now is they use 232 to hit into climate change, like every other one of their bills do. So I definitely would want to be part of a bipartisan group that moves something and works together and finds common ground," she said.

"I’m definitely at the table. My ears are open. I do think it’s possible," Walorski said. She is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

However, there are some Democrats who do not want to co-sponsor bills if the Republican lead on the bill voted to decertify the election, as Walorski did. Freshman Democrat Rep. Jake Auchincloss from Massachusetts told the Washington Post earlier this year, “I don’t have the willingness to forge political partnerships with people who voted to decertify the electoral results."

Walorski said that she talks to Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., every chance she gets about trade, though she has not talked about Section 232 reform yet. "Even if I run into him in the hallways, we’re talking trade, because it’s so important to me, and it can get lost in the shuffle. It’s not necessarily everybody’s game. I make myself very visible to him," she said.

Neal has told her that sometime this year, the committee will delve into trade "and he is supportive of several ideas that are out there. He didn’t say specifically on 232."

Walorksi is talking specifically about renewal of the GSP and MTB. She said the lapse of GSP, and its coverage of lauan plywood from Indonesia is costing RV manufacturers in her district a million dollars a month.

"I’m talking to the ranking member, I’m talking to the chairman, I’m talking to anybody who will listen, how important it is," she said. She said Neal is vague on timing when she asks about GSP, but it gives her hope that the GSP renewal passed so overwhelmingly in the Senate. "I’m more optimistic about it today than I was, say, three weeks ago," she said.

Walorski said she had not noticed the projection of declining tariffs in the White House budget (see 2106070047), but said she thought that at least a partial rollback of Section 301 tariffs was baked into those figures, and she would support eliminating tariffs on Chinese goods not directly linked to Made in China 2025.

"I think many of the products facing the 301 tariffs, they are critical inputs for the U.S. supply chains in manufacturing," she said.

Auto parts manufacturing is one of the industries in Walorski's district, but she said they are not talking to her about the question of auto rules of origin, and whether a core part that meets the rules of origin under USMCA will count as originating toward the total regional value content, or whether the portion of the value of the part that is not from North America will be excluded from the formula. "My companies will definitely begin rattling the trees if they have a real issue. I haven’t heard from them yet, but I’m sure I will," she said.

But when asked if Congress could influence the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the interpretation of the rules of origin, Walorski said it's difficult to say.

" Last couple of years, [Congress members] felt they were shut out [on trade], and there were too many decisions made through the executive branch. So I think there’s an appetite in Congress," she said. But at the same time, she said, it's hard for Congress to bring enough leverage without Republican voices, and she said so far, there has been no appetite for bipartisan work on trade.