To fight against unfair trade practices and protect American workers, U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) on Feb. 24 sponsored legislation to bolster the nation’s trade remedy laws.
“Our bill will protect American jobs and combat China’s unfair trade practices,” Sen. Young said. “China has distorted the free market by dumping undervalued products and subsidizing industries, actions designed to harm American businesses and workers.
“This legislation will help level the playing field to ensure the United States can outcompete the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
Sen. Young introduced the bipartisan Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act, S. 691, alongside 14 original cosponsors, including U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Tina Smith (D-MN), to amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to improve the administration of antidumping and countervailing duty laws.
The bill also would respond to China’s unfair trade practices, specifically its Belt and Road Initiative, which provides subsidies to China-based or China-operated companies doing business outside of China, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Young’s staff.
“For too long, foreign competitors like China have engaged in unfair trade practices that have undermined domestic industry and threatened our national security,” said Sen. Smith, the bill’s lead original cosponsor. “This legislation provides more tools for the U.S. to stop illegal dumping and subsidies that have made it impossible for domestic producers and workers to compete.”
The bill would establish the new concept of “successive investigations,” which would improve the U.S. trade remedy system’s efforts to curb circumvention efforts from bad actors designed to undercut domestic industries and increase market share, the summary says.
Additionally, S. 691 would provide the U.S. Department of Commerce with other tools to stop circumvention tactics, such as expediting timelines for successive investigations and creating new factors for the International Trade Commission to consider about the relationship between recently completed trade cases and successive trade cases for the same imported product, states the summary.
The Commerce Department also would have the authority to apply countervailing duty law to subsidies provided by a government to a company operating in a different country; impose statutory requirements for anti-circumvention inquiries to clarify the process and timeline; and specify deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.
The bill is supported by the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Steel Manufacturers Association, and the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association.
U.S. Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) are leading companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.