Global Trade Accountability Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2618 To provide for congressional review of the imposition of duties and other trade measures by the executive branch, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 16, 2021 Mr. DAVIDSON (for himself, Mr. BUDD, Mr. PALMER, Mr. GIBBS, and Mr. GUEST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide for congressional review of the imposition of duties and other trade measures by the executive branch, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Global Trade Account- 4 ability Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2618 IH SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF UNILATERAL TRADE 1 ACTIONS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 5 of title I of the Trade 3 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2191 et seq.) is amended by add- 4 ing at the end the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 155. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF UNILATERAL 6 TRADE ACTIONS. 7 ‘‘(a) UNILATERAL TRADE ACTION DEFINED.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term 9 ‘unilateral trade action’ means any of the following 10 actions taken with respect to the importation of an 11 article pursuant to a provision of law specified in 12 paragraph (2): 13 ‘‘(A) A prohibition on importation of the 14 article. 15 ‘‘(B) The imposition of or an increase in a 16 duty applicable to the article. 17 ‘‘(C) The imposition or tightening of a tar- 18 iff-rate quota applicable to the article. 19 ‘‘(D) The imposition or tightening of a 20 quantitative restriction on the importation of 21 the article. 22 ‘‘(E) The suspension, withdrawal, or pre- 23 vention of the application of trade agreement 24 concessions with respect to the article. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2618 IH ‘‘(F) Any other restriction on importation 1 of the article. 2 ‘‘(2) PROVISIONS OF LAW SPECIFIED.—The 3 provisions of law specified in this paragraph are the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(A) Section 122. 6 ‘‘(B) Title III. 7 ‘‘(C) Sections 406, 421, and 422. 8 ‘‘(D) Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 9 (19 U.S.C. 1338). 10 ‘‘(E) Section 232 of the Trade Expansion 11 Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862). 12 ‘‘(F) Section 103(a) of the Bipartisan Con- 13 gressional Trade Priorities and Accountability 14 Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4202(a)). 15 ‘‘(G) The Trading with the Enemy Act (50 16 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.). 17 ‘‘(H) The International Emergency Eco- 18 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 19 ‘‘(I) Any provision of law enacted to imple- 20 ment a trade agreement to which the United 21 States is a party. 22 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS 23 TO HARMONIZED TARIFF SCHEDULE.—A technical 24 correction to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2618 IH United States shall not be considered a unilateral 1 trade action for purposes of this section. 2 ‘‘(b) CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL REQUIRED.—Ex- 3 cept as provided by subsection (d), a unilateral trade ac- 4 tion may not take effect unless— 5 ‘‘(1) the President submits to Congress and to 6 the Comptroller General of the United States a re- 7 port that includes— 8 ‘‘(A) a description of the proposed unilat- 9 eral trade action; 10 ‘‘(B) the proposed effective period for the 11 action; 12 ‘‘(C) an analysis of the action, including 13 whether the action is in the national economic 14 interest of the United States; 15 ‘‘(D) an assessment of the potential effect 16 of retaliation from trading partners affected by 17 the action; and 18 ‘‘(E) a list of articles that will be affected 19 by the action by subheading number of the 20 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 21 States; and 22 ‘‘(2) a joint resolution of approval is enacted 23 pursuant to subsection (e). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2618 IH ‘‘(c) REPORT OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Not 1 later than 15 days after the submission of the report re- 2 quired by subsection (b)(1) with respect to a proposed uni- 3 lateral trade action, the Comptroller General shall submit 4 to Congress a report on the proposed action that includes 5 an assessment of the compliance of the President with the 6 provision of law specified in subsection (a)(2) pursuant to 7 which the action would be taken. 8 ‘‘(d) TEMPORARY AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding 9 any other provision of this section, a unilateral trade ac- 10 tion may take effect for one 90-calendar-day period (with- 11 out renewal) if the President— 12 ‘‘(1) determines that is necessary for the unilat- 13 eral trade action to take effect because the action 14 is— 15 ‘‘(A) necessary because of a national emer- 16 gency; 17 ‘‘(B) necessary because of an imminent 18 threat to health or safety; 19 ‘‘(C) necessary for the enforcement of 20 criminal laws; or 21 ‘‘(D) necessary for national security; and 22 ‘‘(2) submits written notice of the determina- 23 tion to Congress. 24 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURES FOR JOINT RESOLUTION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2618 IH ‘‘(1) JOINT RESOLUTION DEFINED.—For pur- 1 poses of this subsection, the term ‘joint resolution’ 2 means only a joint resolution of either House of 3 Congress, the matter after the resolving clause of 4 which is as follows: ‘That Congress approves the ac- 5 tion proposed by the President under section 155(b) 6 of the Trade Act of 1974 in the report submitted to 7 Congress under that section on lllllll.’, 8 with the blank space being filled with the appro- 9 priate date. 10 ‘‘(2) INTRODUCTION.—After a House of Con- 11 gress receives a report under subsection (b)(1) with 12 respect to a unilateral trade action, the majority 13 leader of that House (or his or her respective des- 14 ignee) shall introduce (by request, if appropriate) a 15 joint resolution— 16 ‘‘(A) in the case of the House of Rep- 17 resentatives, within 3 legislative days; and 18 ‘‘(B) in the case of the Senate, within 3 19 session days. 20 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION OF SECTION 152.—The pro- 21 visions of subsections (b) through (f) of section 152 22 shall apply to a joint resolution under this sub- 23 section to the same extent those provisions apply to 24 a resolution under section 152. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2618 IH ‘‘(f) REPORT BY THE UNITED STATES INTER- 1 NATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION.—Not later than 12 2 months after the date of a unilateral trade action taken 3 pursuant to this section, the United States International 4 Trade Commission shall submit to the Committee on Fi- 5 nance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and 6 Means of the House of Representatives a report on the 7 effects of the action on the United States economy, includ- 8 ing a comprehensive assessment of the economic effects 9 of the action on producers and consumers in the United 10 States.’’. 11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 12 for the Trade Act of 1974 is amended by inserting after 13 the item relating to section 154 the following: 14 ‘‘Sec. 155. Congressional review of unilateral trade actions.’’. (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 15 (1) BALANCE-OF-PAYMENTS AUTHORITY.—Sec- 16 tion 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2132) 17 is amended— 18 (A) in subsection (a), in the flush text fol- 19 lowing paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘and subject 20 to approval under section 155’’ after ‘‘Con- 21 gress)’’; 22 (B) in subsection (c), in the flush text fol- 23 lowing paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘and subject 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2618 IH to approval under section 155’’ after ‘‘Con- 1 gress)’’; and 2 (C) in subsection (g), by inserting ‘‘and 3 subject to approval under section 155’’ after 4 ‘‘of this section’’. 5 (2) RULES OF HOUSE AND SENATE.—Section 6 151(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 7 2191(a)) is amended— 8 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 9 by striking ‘‘and 153’’ and inserting ‘‘, 153, 10 and 155’’; and 11 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and 12 153(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘, 153(a), and 155(e)’’. 13 (3) ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS UNDER TRADE 14 AGREEMENTS.—Title III of the Trade Act of 1974 15 (19 U.S.C. 2411 et seq.) is amended— 16 (A) in section 301— 17 (i) in subsection (a), in the flush text, 18 by inserting ‘‘to approval under section 19 155 and’’ after ‘‘subsection (c), subject’’; 20 and 21 (ii) in subsection (b)(2), by inserting 22 ‘‘to approval under section 155 and’’ after 23 ‘‘subsection (c), subject’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2618 IH (B) in section 305(a)(1), by inserting ‘‘to 1 approval under section 155 and’’ after ‘‘section 2 301, subject’’; and 3 (C) in section 307(a)(1), in the matter pre- 4 ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘to ap- 5 proval under section 155 and’’ after ‘‘any ac- 6 tion, subject’’. 7 (4) MARKET DISRUPTION.—Section 406 of the 8 Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2436) is amended— 9 (A) in subsection (b), in the matter pre- 10 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘With respect 11 to’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to approval under 12 section 155, with respect to’’; and 13 (B) in subsection (c), in the second sen- 14 tence, by striking ‘‘If the President’’ and insert- 15 ing ‘‘Subject to approval under section 155, if 16 the President’’. 17 (5) ACTION TO ADDRESS MARKET DISRUP- 18 TION.—Section 421 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 19 U.S.C. 2451) is amended— 20 (A) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and 21 subject to approval under section 155’’ after 22 ‘‘of this section’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2618 IH (B) in subsection (i)(4)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 1 subject to approval under section 155,’’ after 2 ‘‘provisional relief and’’; 3 (C) in subsection (k)(1), by striking 4 ‘‘Within 15 days’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to 5 section 155, within 15 days’’; 6 (D) by striking subsection (m) and by re- 7 designating subsections (n) and (o) as sub- 8 sections (m) and (n), respectively; 9 (E) in subsection (m), as redesignated by 10 subparagraph (D)— 11 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘sub- 12 section (m)’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; 13 and 14 (ii) in paragraph (2), by inserting 15 ‘‘and subject to approval under section 16 155’’ after ‘‘paragraph (1)’’; and 17 (F) in paragraph (3) of subsection (n), as 18 redesignated by subparagraph (D), by striking 19 ‘‘subsection (m)’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’. 20 (6) ACTION IN RESPONSE TO TRADE DIVER- 21 SION.—Section 422(h) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 22 U.S.C. 2451a(h)) is amended by striking ‘‘Within 20 23 days’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to approval under sec- 24 tion 155, within 20 days’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2618 IH (7) DISCRIMINATION BY FOREIGN COUN- 1 TRIES.—Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 2 U.S.C. 1338) is amended— 3 (A) in subsection (a), in the matter pre- 4 ceding paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, subject to 5 approval under section 155 of the Trade Act of 6 1974,’’ after ‘‘by proclamation’’; 7 (B) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘subject 8 to approval under section 155 of the Trade Act 9 of 1974 and’’ after ‘‘hereby authorized,’’; 10 (C) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘Any 11 proclamation’’ and inserting ‘‘Subject to ap- 12 proval under section 155 of the Trade Act of 13 1974, any proclamation’’; 14 (D) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘subject 15 to approval under section 155 of the Trade Act 16 of 1974 and’’ after ‘‘he shall,’’; and 17 (E) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘subject 18 to approval under section 155 of the Trade Act 19 of 1974 and’’ after ‘‘he shall,’’. 20 (8) SAFEGUARDING NATIONAL SECURITY.—Sec- 21 tion 232(c)(1)(B) of the Trade Expansion Act of 22 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862(c)(1)(B)) is amended by in- 23 serting ‘‘, subject to approval under section 155 of 24 the Trade Act of 1974,’’ after ‘‘shall’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2618 IH (9) BIPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL TRADE PRIOR- 1 ITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015.—Section 2 103(a) of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Prior- 3 ities and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4 4202(a)) is amended— 5 (A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘and 6 approval under section 155 of the Trade Act of 7 1974’’ after ‘‘paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 8 (B) in paragraph (7), by inserting ‘‘and 9 approval under section 155 of the Trade Act of 10 1974’’ after ‘‘3524)’’. 11 (10) INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY ECONOMIC 12 POWERS ACT.—Section 203(a)(1)(B) of the Inter- 13 national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 14 U.S.C. 1702(a)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting 15 ‘‘(subject to section 155 of the Trade Act of 1974)’’ 16 after ‘‘importation’’. 17 (11) TRADING WITH THE ENEMY ACT.—Section 18 11 of the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 19 4311) is amended by striking ‘‘Whenever’’ and in- 20 serting ‘‘Subject to approval under section 155 of 21 the Trade Act of 1974, whenever’’. 22 (12) FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTING 23 BILLS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:47 Jun 01, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2618 IH (A) UNITED STATES-MEXICO-CANADA 1 AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT.—Section 2 104 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agree- 3 ment Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4515) is 4 amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) 5 by inserting ‘‘, subject to approval under sec- 6 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]