Wyden Calls on Senate to Pass Toughest Trade Enforcement Package in Decades
Trade Enforcement Act Slated for a Thursday Vote
Click here to watch Wyden’s floor speech
WASHINGTON – Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, urged colleagues to pass a sweeping package of trade enforcement measures, in a Senate floor speech today.
“The bottom line is that past trade policies were too old, too slow, or too weak to keep up with the trade cheats, but the legislation before the Senate this week says those days are over,” Wyden said. “This package is the strongest set of trade enforcement policies the Congress has considered in decades.”
The Senate is expected to vote on the bill Thursday. If passed, it would go to the president to sign into law.
A full summary of the bill is here.
Sen. Wyden’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below.
Ranking Member Ron Wyden - Floor Remarks on the Full Customs Conference Report
Last year, Democrats and Republicans in both chambers of Congress came together and said it was time for a fresh, modern trade policy that I call “trade done right.” At the heart of trade done right is a tougher, smarter plan to fight trade cheats who are ripping off American jobs.
The inventiveness of these ripoff artists is alarming, and it’s something I know about having organized and run a sting operation a few years ago as chairman of the subcommittee on trade. They find slippery ways of moving their operations, conceal their identities and ship their products into the U.S. on shadowy, untraceable routes. Sometimes sneaking illegal imports into this country is as simple as slapping a new label on a box. That’s why it’s time for a strong, new approach to trade enforcement.
The lingo of trade policy -- with Trade Promotion Authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership and more -- can be hard to follow under the best of circumstances. So I want to start today by saying that the package before the Senate this week is not legislation to create more trade agreements.
It’s about creating tough trade enforcement policies, following through on those laws, and standing up to anybody who tries to get around them. That ought to be a priority no matter how a Senator chooses to vote on a particular new trade agreement.
The bottom line is that past trade policies were too old, too slow, or too weak to keep up with the trade cheats, but the legislation before the Senate this week says those days are over. This afternoon I’d like to explain why I believe this package is the strongest set of trade enforcement policies the Congress has considered in decades.
At its core, it’s about rooting out the universe of scofflaw tactics that trade cheats rely on. They use fraudulent records, shell games, and sophisticated schemes to evade duties and undercut American producers. Foreign governments bully American business into relocating factories and jobs or turning over lucrative intellectual property. They spy on our companies and trade enforcers, steal secrets, and lie about it in the aftermath. They try to undercut American industries so quickly that the U.S. is unable to act before the economic damage is done.
With the package before the Senate, this body has an opportunity to say loud and clear that the U.S. is done sitting back and getting its clock cleaned by trade cheats. This country is going to take trade enforcement to a new level to protect workers and businesses in Oregon and nationwide.
Maybe the biggest part of that is the ENFORCE Act, which goes after one of the biggest loopholes in trade, merchandise laundering. This is a proposal my Democratic colleagues and I have been fighting to get into law for years. This initiative will help put a stop to the evasion of duties that are in place to protect American manufacturers and workers -- particularly when it comes to steel, which is a pillar of American industry.
Next, this legislation once and for all closes an egregious loophole that allowed products made with slave and child labor to be imported to the United States. My friend Senator Brown has long been a champion on this issue. He and I believe that in 2016 and beyond, Congress cannot allow for the perpetrators of slave or child labor to have any place in the American economy. So the old system that leaves the door open to child or slave labor if it’s used to make a product that isn’t made here in the U.S. -- that system absolutely must end, and it will.
Another major upgrade I fought for is what I call an “unfair trade alert.” Trade cheats often rely on our enforcement system moving at a snail’s pace. When they break the rules, they hope that the damage will be done before Washington catches on. That way, the factory lights will have gone out or the plant will be shuttered before the U.S. does anything about it. But with this new alert system, the warning bells will go off long before the damage is done.
Next, this package includes an initiative from Senator Stabenow to make the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center a permanent institution, so that all hands are on deck fighting against trade cheats.
This package creates a new trust fund for trade enforcement developed by Senator Cantwell to drive America’s investment in fresh ideas that can help protect our workers and businesses.
This proposal will also help ensure that small businesses and their employees are in the winner’s circle on trade. It will lower costs for a lot of small businesses in Oregon and nationwide that import products to the U.S.
Thanks to the leadership of Senator Shaheen on these issues, it will give small businesses more tools they can use to reach new markets overseas. And it will help guarantee that all our trade agencies are looking for opportunities to help small businesses grow.
When it comes to trade policies, environmental protections are a major priority for me and many of my Democratic colleagues. I want one thing to be very clear. This bill cannot and will not in any way prevent the United States from negotiating climate agreements. Not only that, this package tackles some particularly important environmental issues head-on. It directs trade negotiators to act against illegal fishing and fisheries subsidies that are destroying our oceans. And it will help guarantee that Customs is better trained to fight the trade of stolen timber from places like the Amazon. Both of those are big improvements over the old playbook on trade.
Many of my colleagues and I – members on both sides – are extremely concerned about currency manipulation. In the process of bringing this bipartisan, bicameral package together, members from the House have made it very clear they are only willing to go so far on currency.
But the fact is, this legislation goes further than ever before to fight currency manipulators. Senator Bennet deserves enormous credit for all his diligent work on this issue. And I can guarantee that this is not the last time the Senate debates it. I will work with Senator Bennet and all my colleagues at every opportunity going forward to head off currency manipulators and stop them from undercutting American jobs and businesses.
It has been my position for years that better, more progressive trade deals and stronger trade enforcement are two sides of the same coin. Last year, the Senate said loudly and clearly that future trade deals must raise the bar for American priorities such as labor rights, environmental protection and human rights. And now, the Senate has an opportunity to stand up for workers and businesses in Oregon and across the country by kicking our enforcement of trade laws into high gear. So in my view, this landmark trade enforcement proposal ought to have strong, bipartisan support.
Also included in this conference report is a permanent extension of one of the most popular economic policies on the books today, the Internet Tax Freedom Act.
Former Congressman Chris Cox and I introduced the first ITFA bill back in 1998. For nearly two decades, it has protected the Internet against discriminatory taxes and saved families and businesses hundreds of dollars a year. But for all that time, ITFA has been a temporary stop-and-go policy that requires renewal again and again.
Without ITFA, working families could get hit by a big, regressive tax on their Internet access. So this permanent extension is an easy, long-awaited bipartisan victory that I believe all policymakers can get behind. And with ITFA’s latest extension running out this year, it’s important for the Senate to act now. So I urge Senators to support this proposal.
###
Next Article Previous Article