Senator Baldwin Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Strengthen Trade Laws, Protect American Workers
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act, legislation to strengthen U.S. trade laws and ensure they remain effective tools to fight against unfair trade practices and protect American workers.
“For too long, China has been cheating the system—not only hurting our economy and American workers, but also jeopardizing our national security,” said Senator Baldwin. “I am proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to help level the playing field and protect our workers.”
The bill would improve the U.S. trade remedy system and respond to repeat offenders and serial cheaters, leveling the playing field for American workers. The bill also responds to China’s unfair trade practices, specifically its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which provides subsidies to China-based or China-operated companies doing business in countries outside of China.
The legislation would update U.S. trade remedy laws to 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 our domestic industries and increase market share.
American companies are on the receiving end of China’s increasingly predatory economic behavior. In recent years, China’s unfair trade practices have culminated in grave economic consequences that affect American workers. For example, Chinese-supported companies move portions of production to other countries to circumvent American duties, a practice known as “country hopping.” China’s BRI also unfairly subsidizes products made in other countries, rather than just in China. In addition to competing with these unfair trade practices, American companies have to contend with long lead times before the Department of Commerce initiates a new anti-circumvention inquiry.
Around half of the unfair trade cases are in the steel industry. However, these unfair trade cases also affect industries that make engines, furniture, hardwood plywood, pipes and tubes, wood moldings, magnesium, paper, shrimp, carrier bags, kitchen cabinets, quartz countertops, tires, and many others.
The Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act pushes back against China’s anti-free market practices by providing the Department of Commerce with more tools to stop circumvention tactics. These tools include:
- Establishing the concept of “successive investigations” under antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CD) laws. The new AD/CV investigations would improve the effectiveness of the trade remedy law to combat repeat offenders by making it easier for petitioners to bring new cases when production moves to another country;
- 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;
- Providing the Department of Commerce the authority to apply CVD law to subsidies provided by a government to a company operating in a different country;
- Imposing statutory requirements for anti-circumvention inquiries to clarify the process and timeline; and
- Specifying deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.
The bill is led by Senators Todd Young (R-IN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) and also co-sponsored by Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-AK), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jon Fetterman (D-PA), Jim Banks (R-IN), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bernie Moreno (R-OH), and Katie Britt (R-AL).
The bill is supported by the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Steel Manufacturers Association, and the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association.
Full text of the legislation can be found here.
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