Assistance for Farmers Harmed by Tariffs on Exports Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1453 To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide adjustment assistance to farmers adversely affected by reduced exports resulting from tariffs imposed as retaliation for United States tariff increases, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 14, 2019 Mr. JONES introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide adjustment assistance to farmers adversely affected by reduced ex- ports resulting from tariffs imposed as retaliation for United States tariff increases, 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 ‘‘Assistance for Farmers 4 Harmed by Tariffs on Exports Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1453.IS S1453 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1453 IS (1) In recognition that trade policy can result 1 in disparate and disruptive changes to the economy, 2 the trade adjustment assistance program under title 3 II of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2251 et 4 seq.) was enacted to help workers adversely im- 5 pacted by the trade policy decisions of the Federal 6 Government. 7 (2) Federal trade statutes, including section 8 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 9 1862), section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 10 U.S.C. 2411), and potentially the International 11 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 12 et seq.), are being used aggressively to increase tar- 13 iffs on selected imports. 14 (3) Foreign countries affected by such tariff in- 15 creases have, as of the date of the enactment of this 16 Act, already raised tariffs on United States agricul- 17 tural exports or have indicated that they intend to 18 respond by raising tariffs on such agricultural ex- 19 ports. 20 (4) Increased tariffs on such agricultural ex- 21 ports threaten to cost United States agricultural 22 producers global market share and reduce the in- 23 come of producers in affected commodities. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1453.IS S1453 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1453 IS (5) Farmers adversely impacted by the effects 1 of increased tariffs on such agricultural exports de- 2 serve adjustment assistance. 3 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR RETALIATORY TAR- 4 IFF INCREASES. 5 Section 292(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 6 2401a(c)) is amended— 7 (1) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3); and 8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(2) either— 11 ‘‘(A) the volume of imports of articles like, 12 or directly competitive with, the agricultural 13 commodity produced by the group in the mar- 14 keting year with respect to which the group 15 files the petition increased compared to the av- 16 erage volume of such imports during the 3 mar- 17 keting years preceding such marketing year; or 18 ‘‘(B)(i) the volume of exports of the agri- 19 cultural commodity produced by the group in 20 the marketing year with respect to which the 21 group files the petition decreased compared to 22 the average volume of such exports during the 23 3 marketing years preceding such marketing 24 year; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1453.IS S1453 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1453 IS ‘‘(ii) the decrease in exports described in 1 clause (i) resulted in whole or in part from du- 2 ties imposed on such exports by a foreign coun- 3 try in response to duties imposed by the United 4 States on imports from such country pursuant 5 to action taken under the authority of— 6 ‘‘(I) section 232 of the Trade Expan- 7 sion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862); 8 ‘‘(II) section 301 of this Act (19 9 U.S.C. 2411); or 10 ‘‘(III) the International Emergency 11 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 12 seq.); and 13 ‘‘(3) the increase in imports described in para- 14 graph (2)(A) or the decrease in exports described in 15 paragraph (2)(B) contributed importantly to the de- 16 crease in the national average price, quantity of pro- 17 duction, or value of production of, or cash receipts 18 for, the agricultural commodity, as described in 19 paragraph (1).’’. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:14 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1453.IS S1453 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS