Trade Assistance for Farmers Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2690 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2019 Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 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 ‘‘Trade Assistance for 4 Farmers Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2690 IH (1) In recognition that trade policy can result 1 in disparate and disruptive changes to the economy, 2 the Trade Adjustment Assistance program was en- 3 acted to help workers adversely impacted by the 4 trade policy decisions of the Federal Government. 5 (2) The Trump Administration has made clear 6 that it intends to aggressively use Federal trade 7 statutes, including section 232 of the Trade Expan- 8 sion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862), section 301 of 9 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411), and poten- 10 tially the International Emergency Economic Powers 11 Act (Public Law 95–223), to increase tariffs on se- 12 lected imports. 13 (3) Foreign countries affected by such tariff in- 14 creases have, as of the date of the enactment of this 15 Act, already raised tariffs on United States agricul- 16 tural exports or have indicated that they intend to 17 respond by raising tariffs on such agricultural ex- 18 ports. 19 (4) Increased tariffs on such agricultural ex- 20 ports threaten to cost United States agricultural 21 producers global market share and reduce the in- 22 come of producers of affected commodities. 23 (5) Farmers adversely impacted by these effects 24 deserve adjustment assistance. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2690 IH SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR RETALIATORY TAR- 1 IFF INCREASES. 2 Section 292(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 3 2401a(c)) is amended— 4 (1) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3); and 5 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(2) either— 8 ‘‘(A) the volume of imports of articles like, 9 or directly competitive with, the agricultural 10 commodity produced by the group in the mar- 11 keting year with respect to which the group 12 files the petition increased compared to the av- 13 erage volume of such imports during the 3 mar- 14 keting years preceding such marketing year; or 15 ‘‘(B)(i) the volume of exports of the agri- 16 cultural commodity produced by the group in 17 the marketing year with respect to which the 18 group files the petition decreased compared to 19 the average volume of such exports during the 20 3 marketing years preceding such marketing 21 year; and 22 ‘‘(ii) the decrease in exports described in 23 clause (i) resulted in whole or in part from tar- 24 iffs imposed on such exports by a foreign coun- 25 try in response to United States tariffs imposed 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2690 IH on imports from such country pursuant to ac- 1 tion taken under the authority of— 2 ‘‘(I) section 232 of the Trade Expan- 3 sion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862); 4 ‘‘(II) section 301 of the Trade Act of 5 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411); or 6 ‘‘(III) the International Emergency 7 Economic Powers Act (Public Law 95– 8 223); and 9 ‘‘(3) the increase in imports under subpara- 10 graph (B)(i) or the decrease in exports under sub- 11 paragraph (B)(ii) contributed importantly to the de- 12 crease in the national average price, quantity of pro- 13 duction, or value of production of, or cash receipts 14 for, the agricultural commodity, as described in 15 paragraph (1).’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:30 May 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2690.IH H2690 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS