Rangel, Levin Introduce Trade Enforcement Bill
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY), and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander L. Levin (D-MI), introduced legislation to promote an effective trade agenda by ensuring that U.S. workers, farmers, and businesses get a fair shake in the global marketplace, and that U.S. consumers have confidence that the products they buy are safe.
H.R. 496, the Trade Enforcement Act of 2009, would actively open markets by eliminating foreign barriers to U.S. goods and services exports, combat counterfeiting and piracy, restore rights under U.S. trade remedy laws and strengthen the U.S. ability to address unfair and illegal trade practices. The bill comes after years of lax enforcement under the Bush Administration.
"In order to reap the benefits of trade, and solidify the United States' role as a participant in international affairs, it is vital that our trading partners play by the same rules," said Chairman Rangel."Our trading partners need to live up to their end of the agreements and open their markets to U.S. exporters. This bill would help eliminate trade-distorting subsidies, and the dumping of products into our market. Simultaneously, the legislation will preserve intellectual property rights, and ensure that exports to the United States are safe. The Trade Enforcement Act will help to regain confidence in U.S. trade policy."
"The Trade Enforcement Act will help to expand markets for U.S. exporters, shape the terms of competition, and ensure that trade violations are addressed," said Chairman Levin."It is only through an activist agenda that we can have the two-way trade that expands markets and shapes globalization."
Background
In each of the past eight years, the U.S. trade deficit exceeded any trade deficit the United States experienced before 2000. Each year, the deficit has exceeded 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and, in 2008, the deficit is expected to approach five percent of GDP. Before 2000, the largest U.S. trade deficit since World War II occurred in 1987. That deficit was 3.2 percent of GDP.
The past eight years have also marked a significant decline in U.S. trade enforcement practices. During the Clinton Administration, the U.S. filed an average of eleven WTO cases each year to open foreign markets for U.S. goods and services exports. Under the Bush Administration, the United States has filed an average of three WTO cases each year.
Throughout this period, Rangel and Levin have advocated a more active role in trade enforcement, and introduced nearly identical legislation in the 110th Congress. Committee Members have promised to work with the new Administration and Congress to advance the issue.
In March 2007, Chairmen Rangel and Levin, along with other House Democrats, offered a "New Trade Policy for America". That new policy included a framework to ensure that America's trading partners play by the rules.
Click here to view a short summary of the bill. Also, please click here to read a June 10, 2008 opinion piece by Chairman Levin in the Hill detailing the need for stronger enforcement of trade laws.
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