Lawmakers Vote on Trade Bills During "China Week"
September 11, 2024 – Lawmakers returned to Washington this week and hit the ground running with votes on several China-related trade bills. Chairman John Moolenar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the CCP helped initiate the so-called “China Week.”
AAEI’s Government Affairs Manager, Mitchell Hart, summarizes the following list of bills that are under consideration and that have already passed this week. In parentheses, you will find the corresponding AAEI substantive committee that will be tracking the bill.
The following bills are still under consideration.
Under a Rule
- H.R. 7980 – End Chinese Dominance of Electric Vehicles in America Act of 2024 (Miller, C)
- Foreign Entity Ownership rule consistent with DOC and Treasury [EGTC]
- H.R. 9456 – Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act (Newhouse)
Suspensions
- H.R. 3169 – Port Crane Security and Inspection Act (Gimenez)
- Port equipment with connectivity rules [Customs/EGTC]
The following bills were passed this week.
- H.R. 6614 – Maintaining American Superiority by Improving Export Control Transparency Act (Jackson)
- Exporting license reporting to Congress [EGTC]
- H.R. 5613 – Sanctions Lists Harmonization Act (Waltz)
- Trade, commerce, and state harmonization [EGTC]
- H.R. 8152 – Remote Access Security Act (Lawler)
- Cloud computing export control [EGTC]
- H.R. 6606 – To amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 relating to the statement of policy (Radewagen)
- Trade secrets [Customs/EGTC]
- H.R. 8333 – BIOSECURE Act (Wenstrup)
- Ban five Chinese companies from having interest in biotechnology companies [EGTC]
- H.R. 8631 – Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act (Gimenez)
- Prohibit the DHS from procuring certain foreign-made batteries [Customs/EGTC]
- H.R. 7151 – Export Control Enforcement and Enhancement Act (Wagner)
- Sets a presumption of denial for all license applications to export items controlled for national security reasons to countries under a U.S. arms embargo [EGTC]
- Countries include Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Cambodia, the Central African Republican, the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic Republican of the Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Russia, Somali, South Sudan, Sudan, Syra, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe
- H.R. 1103 – Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act (Smith, C)
Other Stories:
- The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a proposed rule to amend the agency’s Industrial Base Surveys – Data Collections regulations by establishing reporting requirements for the development of advanced AI models and computing clusters. Comments to BIS are due on October 11, 2024.
- Some foreign governments reportedly think that another Trump Presidential term would be their best chance to negotiate a trade deal.
- Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the CCP sent a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. auto part companies raising concerns that they are purchasing illegal Chinese products evading tariffs.
- House Ways and Means Committee leaders reportedly expressed bipartisan interest this week in addressing compliance issues with de minimis shipments, with both Republicans and Democrats pushing for reforms that could limit Chinese goods entering under this trade provision. A bill aimed at restricting de minimis for certain goods is expected to pass this year.
DHS’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommended last week that CBP needs to improve its oversight of penalty cases to more effectively collect penalty revenue. In its report, OIG stated that it had previously identified $858 million in lost penalty revenue.
