The House of Representatives and Senate adjourned this past weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday break but will return in early December to finish, or attempt to finish, work on several important pieces of pending legislation. At the top of the list is the pending House-Senate conference on the Deficit Reduction Act. Members will recall from recent ALERTS that the House-passed version of this legislation contains a provision to repeal the so-called Byrd Amendment, while the Senate version does not. The Association is working hard to maximize the potential for the House provision to survive in the final version of the Act and we will be intensifying our efforts on this issue over the next few weeks. The fight will continue to be very tough and, even with the House approval last week, must be viewed as an uphill challenge. However, there is a very real possibility of getting rid of the Byrd Amendment in the near future. Members are asked to keep their eyes open for a “political action” ALERT immediately after the Thanksgiving weekend and to make a small investment of time to ensure the Association’s voice continues to be heard at this critical juncture.
Before its adjournment, Congress also took several other actions of note and interest to the Association. For example, with a crucial ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) set to begin next month in Hong Kong, the Senate adopted a “sense of the Senate” resolution that warns the Administration not to negotiate any relaxation of U.S. trade laws (specifically, antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) laws). The Senate also unanimously approved a stand-alone bill that would tighten Commerce Department requirements on deposit requirements for entries from “new shippers” subject to AD/CVD orders (by requiring cash deposits for estimated AD/CVD duties during the course of a “new shipper” review and disallowing the use of bonds to meet the deposit requirement).
On other matters, members of the House and Senate introduced legislation last week that would restore mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements for imported meat, peanuts, fruit and vegetables. These bills – H.R. 4365 and S. 2038 – would require implementation of the so-called COOL program by September 30, 2006. Members may recall that implementation of these requirements is currently delayed until September 30, 2008. In addition, the Senate unanimously approved legislation that would give Ukraine permanent normal trade relations with the United States.
Outside the halls of Congress, Administration officials are hoping to complete negotiations on a proposed free trade agreement with Andean countries (specifically, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) in the current round of talks slated to conclude tomorrow morning. The odds of success are currently viewed as 50/50 and failing an agreement by tomorrow, it is thought that these negotiations may fall into abeyance over the next several months. The Administration is also working on details necessary for implementation of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) as of January 1, 2006 and current thought is that the agreement may only go into effect with one or two countries by that time. The free trade agreement with Morocco will hopefully be implemented by January 1, as well, although there remains some uncertainty on that score. We are in close contact with relevant Administration officials with regard to both the CAFTA-DR and Morocco implementation plans and will keep Members closely advised.
Overshadowing these bilateral matters is the pending WTO ministerial meeting in December, which may well determine whether the Doha Round of multilateral negotiations will continue or collapse outright.
And if that is not enough, both the GSP and ATPA duty-preference programs are set to expire as of December 31, 2006. Renewal of these programs in the shadow of mid-term elections next November will be a serious legislative challenge as well.
All in all, Congress and the Administration face a full trade agenda and several of these matters will have a direct impact of this Association and its membership. We will, of course, remain deep in the fray!!
