Bills
| 3.23.22

If TPP and Other Free Trade Agreements Pass, Does the U.S. Need a Plan for Enforcing the Rules? (H.R. 1907)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is H.R. 1907?

(Updated July 11, 2017)

This bill — the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act — was designed to ensure that U.S. officials have the authority to enforce trade agreements with other countries.

It would establish guidelines for enforcing free trade agreements that address health and safety regulations, intellectual property rights, and not letting other countries get away with shirking antidumping and countervailing duty orders. (Antidumping laws prevent foreign competitors from flooding the market with underpriced goods. Countervailing duty orders are basically fees that cancel out an imported good that was subsidized by a foreign government.)

Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be directed to train their officers on how to enforce trade agreements. These agencies would send an annual strategic plan to Congress on trade facilitation and enforcement. When creating the plan, they would be able to ask advice from federal agencies, international organizations, and private sector organizations in developing the strategic plan.

Protocols would be created and taught to CPB personnel for detecting the infringement of intellectual property on cargo imported into the U.S.

There are also a number of miscellaneous provisions in this bill, like: An import broker who is found guilty of conspiring to or committing an act of terrorism would lose their license (among other things, we're sure). 

Also, a loophole allowing the U.S. to accept imports from other countries that were clearly created with forced or indentured labor would be closed. Basically, no more goods from other countries created with labor that doesn't meet human rights standards. 

The importance of the U.S.-Israel trade relationship would also be emphasized, and the U.S. would discourage foreign countries from boycotting, divesting, or sanctioning Israel. The President would be required to report instances of politically-motivated instances of these actions to Congress.

Argument in favor

Trade agreements need strong enforcement provisions to keep other countries from breaking the rules of the deal. These will help protect American workers from unscrupulous competition.

Argument opposed

Politicians should be more worried about how many jobs the U.S. is going to lose with these trade agreements than how they can keep other countries from finding clever ways to dodge the trade rules.

Impact

U.S. workers, their employers, all businesses and organizations importing goods into the U.S., CBP, ICE, DHS, other related federal agencies.

Cost of H.R. 1907

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: 

A Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Division would be created in the CBP’s to focus on preventing and investigating trade remedy evasion and coordinate with CBP and ICE on those issues. Trade remedies are laws used by the U.S. and its trading partners to lessen the negative impact of trade agreements on the U.S. labor force. This division would also enforce antidumping laws and countervailing duty orders.

It would provide federal agencies the ability to participate in the International Trade Data System (ITDS) that could be used in monitoring trade data and flows of cargo, in addition to authorizing the release of cargo based on a given agency’s verification.

Customs and Border Patrol would get a new task force known as the "Commercial Targeting Division" to come up with ways to analyze data related to Primary Trade Issues (PTIs). This would include an alert system to ensure safety when inspecting or transporting cargo, and preventing smuggling.


Media:


Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: "Line0534" by NOAA - California Publication of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA — via Wikimedia Commons)