De Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1969 To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to require reciprocity with respect to de minimis entries of articles, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 14, 2023 Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. VANCE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to require reciprocity with respect to de minimis entries of articles, 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 ‘‘De Minimis Reci- 4 procity Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF DE MINIMIS EN- 6 TRIES OF ARTICLES. 7 Section 321 of Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1321) 8 is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1969 IS (1) by amending subsection (a)(2)(C) to read as 1 follows: 2 ‘‘(C) in any other case, such amount as the 3 Secretary establishes under subsection (c)(1).’’; 4 and 5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF DE MINIMIS ENTRIES.— 7 ‘‘(1) RECIPROCITY WITH RESPECT TO DE MINI- 8 MIS ENTRIES.— 9 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT OF THRESHOLDS.— 10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 11 180 days after the date of the enactment 12 of the De Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023, 13 the Secretary of the Treasury shall pre- 14 scribe regulations to establish dollar 15 amount thresholds, which may not exceed 16 $800, for de minimis entries for purposes 17 of subsection (a)(2)(C). 18 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 19 shall establish a threshold under clause (i) 20 for each country that takes into consider- 21 ation— 22 ‘‘(I) the dollar amount threshold 23 of that country for de minimis entries 24 from the United States; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1969 IS ‘‘(II) any related thresholds of 1 that country, such as a threshold re- 2 lating to a value-added tax on im- 3 ports. 4 ‘‘(iii) PUBLICATION; NOTIFICATION.— 5 Not later than 180 days after the date of 6 the enactment of the De Minimis Reci- 7 procity Act of 2023, the Secretary shall— 8 ‘‘(I) publish the threshold estab- 9 lished under clause (i) in the Federal 10 Register; and 11 ‘‘(II) notify the governments of 12 foreign countries of the threshold. 13 ‘‘(B) RE-SHORING AND NEAR-SHORING AC- 14 COUNT.— 15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—There is estab- 16 lished within the Treasury of the United 17 States an account to be known as the ‘Re- 18 shoring and Near-shoring Account’ (in this 19 subparagraph referred to as the ‘Account’), 20 consisting of such amounts as are— 21 ‘‘(I) transferred to the Account 22 under clause (ii); and 23 ‘‘(II) credited to the Account 24 under clause (iv). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1969 IS ‘‘(ii) TRANSFER OF AMOUNTS ATTRIB- 1 UTABLE TO DE MINIMIS ENTRIES.— 2 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Sec- 3 retary of the Treasury shall transfer 4 to the Account from the general fund 5 of the Treasury, for fiscal year 2024 6 and each fiscal year thereafter, an 7 amount equivalent to the amount re- 8 ceived into the general fund during 9 that fiscal year that the Secretary de- 10 termines is attributable to revenue re- 11 ceived as a result of the dollar amount 12 thresholds established under subpara- 13 graph (A). 14 ‘‘(II) FREQUENCY OF TRANS- 15 FERS.—The Secretary shall transfer 16 amounts required by subclause (I) to 17 be transferred to the Account not less 18 frequently than quarterly. 19 ‘‘(iii) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts in 20 the Account shall be available, without fur- 21 ther appropriation, for the purposes of fa- 22 cilitating the movement of manufacturing 23 from the People’s Republic of China to the 24 United States. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1969 IS ‘‘(iv) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 1 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Except as 2 provided in subclause (II), the Sec- 3 retary shall invest such portion of the 4 Account as is not required to meet 5 current withdrawals in interest-bear- 6 ing obligations of the United States or 7 in obligations guaranteed as to both 8 principal and interest by the United 9 States. 10 ‘‘(II) AUTHORIZATION OF IN- 11 VESTMENT IN OTHER INSTRU- 12 MENTS.— 13 ‘‘(aa) IN GENERAL.—The 14 Secretary may invest such por- 15 tion of the Account as the Sec- 16 retary anticipates will be held in 17 the Account for not less than 2 18 years in equity securities or other 19 securities through a commercial 20 bank if the Secretary determines 21 such investments are appropriate. 22 ‘‘(bb) DEFINITIONS.—In 23 this subclause, the terms ‘equity 24 security’ and ‘security’ have the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1969 IS meanings given those terms in 1 section 3(a) of the Securities Ex- 2 change Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 3 78c(a)). 4 ‘‘(III) INTEREST AND PRO- 5 CEEDS.—The interest on, and the pro- 6 ceeds from the sale or redemption of, 7 any obligations held in the Account 8 shall be credited to and form a part of 9 the Account. 10 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON DE MINIMIS ENTRIES 11 FROM CERTAIN COUNTRIES.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one 13 year after the date of the enactment of the De 14 Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023, and annually 15 thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall 16 publish a list of countries the articles of which 17 are not eligible for entry under subsection 18 (a)(2)(C). 19 ‘‘(B) CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION.— 20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 21 180 days after the date of the enactment 22 of the De Minimis Reciprocity Act of 2023, 23 the Secretary shall establish, and submit to 24 Congress a report on, the conditions for in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1969 IS cluding a country on the list required by 1 subparagraph (A). 2 ‘‘(ii) CONSIDERATIONS.—In estab- 3 lishing under clause (i) conditions for in- 4 cluding a country on the list required by 5 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall con- 6 sider the following: 7 ‘‘(I) Violations by the country of 8 the Act entitled ‘An Act to ensure 9 that goods made with forced labor in 10 the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of 11 the People’s Republic of China do not 12 enter the United States market, and 13 for other purposes’, approved Decem- 14 ber 23, 2021 (Public Law 117–78; 15 135 Stat. 1525) (commonly referred 16 to as the ‘Uyghur Forced Labor Pre- 17 vention Act’). 18 ‘‘(II) Transshipment through the 19 country of goods from countries on 20 the list. 21 ‘‘(III) The exportation from the 22 country of counterfeit goods. 23 ‘‘(IV) Whether the government of 24 the country is committed to the fight 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1969 IS against trafficking in persons, illegal 1 narcotics, and terrorism, as dem- 2 onstrated by— 3 ‘‘(aa) the government of the 4 country not being listed under 5 subparagraph (C) of section 6 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Vic- 7 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 8 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) (commonly 9 referred to as ‘tier 3’) in the 10 most recent report on trafficking 11 in persons required under such 12 section (commonly referred to as 13 the ‘Trafficking in Persons Re- 14 port’); and 15 ‘‘(bb) certification by the 16 Department of State that the 17 government is participating in 18 the fight against illegal narcotics 19 and terrorism. 20 ‘‘(V) Such other issues as the 21 Secretary considers appropriate. 22 ‘‘(C) COUNTRIES REQUIRED TO BE IN- 23 CLUDED.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1969 IS ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The following 1 countries shall be included on the list re- 2 quired by subparagraph (A), effective on 3 the date of the enactment of the De Mini- 4 mis Reciprocity Act of 2023: 5 ‘‘(I) The People’s Republic of 6 China. 7 ‘‘(II) The Russian Federation. 8 ‘‘(ii) REMOVAL FROM LIST.—A coun- 9 try specified in clause (i) may not be re- 10 moved from the list required by subpara- 11 graph (A) until the Secretary certifies to 12 Congress that the government of the coun- 13 try has made progress with respect to the 14 considerations described in subparagraph 15 (B)(ii). 16 ‘‘(D) REMOVAL.— 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The government 18 of a country on the list required by sub- 19 paragraph (A) may petition the Secretary 20 for removal from the list. 21 ‘‘(ii) RESPONSE TIME.—The Secretary 22 shall— 23 ‘‘(I) respond to a petition sub- 24 mitted under clause (i) not later than 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1969 IS 90 days after receiving the petition; 1 and 2 ‘‘(II) include in that response a 3 description of any measures the gov- 4 ernment that submitted the petition is 5 required to undertake to be removed 6 from the list. 7 ‘‘(E) CONSULTATIONS WITH CONGRESS.— 8 The Secretary shall consult with Congress be- 9 fore adding a country to or removing a country 10 from the list required by subparagraph (A). 11 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON ELIGIBILITY OF CAR- 12 RIERS FOR IMPORTATION OF DE MINIMIS EN- 13 TRIES.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An article is eligible 15 for entry under subsection (a)(2)(C) only if the 16 article is transported to the United States by a 17 contract carrier. 18 ‘‘(B) DATA REQUIREMENTS.—A contract 19 carrier shall provide the following data with re- 20 spect to each article entering under subsection 21 (a)(2)(C): 22 ‘‘(i) The heading or subheading of the 23 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1969 IS States under which the article is classifi- 1 able. 2 ‘‘(ii) The country of origin of the arti- 3 cle 4 ‘‘(iii) The country of manufacture of 5 the article (if different from the country of 6 origin under clause (ii)). 7 ‘‘(iv) The shipper of record. 8 ‘‘(v) The importer of record. 9 ‘‘(vi) A description of the article. 10 ‘‘(vii) The fair market value in the 11 United States of the article. 12 ‘‘(C) COLLECTION OF DUTIES AND 13 TAXES.—A contract carrier transporting arti- 14 cles entering under subsection (a)(2)(C) shall 15 be responsible for collecting the duties and 16 taxes owed with respect to such articles and re- 17 mitting those duties and taxes to U.S. Customs 18 and Border Protection. 19 ‘‘(D) CONTRACT CARRIER DEFINED.—In 20 this paragraph, the term ‘contract carrier’ 21 means a private entity that— 22 ‘‘(i) is organized under the laws of the 23 United States or any jurisdiction within 24 the United States; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1969 IS ‘‘(ii) ships small packages into the 1 United States by air or land. 2 ‘‘(4) DE MINIMIS ENTRY DEFINED.—In this 3 subsection, the term ‘de minimis entry’ means the 4 entry of articles imported by one person on one day 5 with a fair retail value that does not exceed— 6 ‘‘(A) in the case of articles entering the 7 United States, the applicable threshold estab- 8 lished under paragraph (1)(A); and 9 ‘‘(B) in the case of articles entering any 10 other country, an amount determined by the 11 government of that country to be de minimis.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:09 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1969.IS S1969 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS