[CTC] Opposition to customs bill

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Article about Rep. Levin and statements/letters from Teamsters, FOE, CWA, Sierra Club below…

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/262733-levin-urges-democrats-to-oppose-customs-bill-agreement <http://thehill.com/policy/finance/262733-levin-urges-democrats-to-oppose-customs-bill-agreement>
 

Levin urges Dems to oppose customs bill deal

By Vicki Needham <http://thehill.com/author/vicki-needham> - 12/09/15 07:09 PM EST

A top House Democrat is urging his colleagues to oppose a deal on a customs enforcement measure, according to a letter obtained by The Hill. 

Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, expressed serious concerns about climate, human trafficking, immigration and currency provisions in the final House-Senate conference report released Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, the conference report falls short on all of these issues," Levin wrote in the letter to House Democrats. 

During a meeting with conferees Monday, Levin had said there would have to be major changes for him to support a final compromise. 

He called the issues with the bill "disappointing because there are positive aspects."

Provisions that address importers skirting antidumping and countervailing duties and changes more effectively banning the importation of goods made with forced or child labor were noted as strengths in the bill.

His most serious concerns of the compromise centered around amendments to the trade promotion authority (TPA) law that would make it harder "to address some of the most important trade-related problems of our time, including climate change and human trafficking."

"Unfortunately, even though we have been working on a customs bill for many years, the unjustifiable TPA amendments now overshadow that work," he said. 

He expressed concern that the climate change language "will prevent a multilateral agreement on climate change from being incorporated into the text of our trade agreements."

And the human trafficking language would allow for a trade agreement with a Tier 3 country — the lowest level in the State Department's yearly report on trafficking — to be fast-tracked through Congress if the country in question is taking action to make improvements.

House and Senate Democrats have asked the State Department to explain why Malaysia, which is part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal completed in October, gained a better position in the report even though they say the country has made few, if any, strides on human rights issues.

He also roundly criticized the agreement, which has been in the works for months, for cutting a currency provision that would have allowed the United States to slap import duties on countries that lower the value of their currency to gain a trading advantage.

That language, offered in committee by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), was never expected to survive a conference because it is opposed by the White House.

Levin said that instead of applying the countervailing duties, the bill includes a "meaningless" provision calling for more "engagement" and wouldn't provide a tougher policy on the issue that many in Congress argue has caused millions in job losses here.

He also said the final bill should have included a process to move forward with the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. Instead, the measure added a "sense of Congress" that the bill needs to get done.



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HOFFA: FINAL CUSTOMS BILL OFFERS LITTLE MORE TO MAKE TPP BETTER FOR WORKERS 

Teamsters General President Says Tweaks Made in Conference Don’t Go Far Enough

(WASHINGTON) – The following is the official statement of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the issuance of a House-Senate conference report on a customs reauthorization bill that does little to address the many shortfalls contained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a deal which would lead to tens of thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas and lower wages for many Americans.

“If leaders in Congress were trying to come up with a way to make trade fair for American workers and those around the globe, they failed miserably with the changes made to this customs reauthorization legislation. The measure preserves a waiver to allow the use of fast track to pass trade deals with countries engaged in human trafficking and it still doesn’t address currency manipulation.

“Americans’ fears over how the TPP will tamp down on wages, allow unfair working conditions worldwide and create even larger trade deficits due to a lack of currency manipulation controls are very real and justified. That’s why there continues to be only one right answer for lawmakers when it comes to this Pacific Rim trade agreement. It starts with a no vote on this bill tomorrow.” 

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. 

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News release

Customs bill would limit president's actions on climate change

Posted Dec. 10, 2015 / Posted by: Kate Colwell 

PARIS, FRANCE – Last night the conference committee for the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2015 (H.R. 644) announced that they had resolved differences between the U.S. House and Senate versions. The Conference Report still contains language that would explicitly prevent the United States Trade Representative from seeking to address climate change in trade agreements. Earlier this year environmental organizations sent up aletter <http://webiva-downton.s3.amazonaws.com/877/0b/7/6231/Environmental_groups_urge_Conferees_to_reject_anti-climate_provision_in_House_Customs_Bill.pdf> opposing the provisions.

Friends of the Earth - U.S. President Erich Pica issued the following statement:

As the world negotiates an agreement for how to address climate change, the United States Congress is trying to explicitly exclude its consideration in trade agreements. President Obama promised a different type of trade deal. Yet the Trans Pacific Partnership that he negotiated creates a new corporate bill of rights that will benefit polluters and make it more difficult to keep fossil fuels in the ground. President Obama needs to stop allowing trade to trump climate change. We ask President Obama to make it clear that he will veto this legislation if it comes to his desk.

###

Expert contact: Erich Pica, +1 (240) 432-3470, epica at foe.org
 <mailto:epica at foe.org>Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (011) 33 6 18 72 99 13, kcolwell at foe.org <mailto:kcolwell at foe.org>
- See more at: http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2015-12-customs-bill-would-limit-presidents-actions-on-climate-change#sthash.0u20KH4s.dpuf <http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2015-12-customs-bill-would-limit-presidents-actions-on-climate-change#sthash.0u20KH4s.dpuf>

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December 10, 2015
 
Dear Representative:
 
On behalf of the 700,000 members and officers of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), I am writing to strongly urge you to vote no on the Conference Report on H.R. 644 when it comes before the House this week. While CWA is strongly supportive of efforts to combat unfair trade practices, this bill is unfortunately far too weak to do so effectively and is littered with troubling provisions that will actually hinder efforts to formulate a better trade policy that benefits American workers.
 
The conference report strips language that was included in the Senate-passed version of H.R. 644 that would have allowed for the application of countervailing duties to address currency manipulation. This issue is critical to American workers, as estimates by the Economic Policy Institute indicate that stopping currency manipulation could create as many as 5.8 million American jobs. Instead of the strong CVD language included in the Senate bill, the conference report contains alternate language that is preposterously weak and will make little improvement over existing currency policy.
 
The currency language directs the Treasury Department to take action that it deems to be "appropriate"--without direction on how to judge appropriateness--unless Treasury makes a self-determination that doing so would not benefit the economic or national security interests of the U.S.--again, without providing any criteria on which to base those assessments. The strongest tool that the bill offers to the President to punish manipulators--banning the manipulator from federal procurement opportunities--is prohibited if the President determines that doing so would subject the government "to unreasonable cost," while, once again, not defining what an unreasonable cost is. In sum, the bill offers inadequate enforcement tools that can be easily waived by the executive branch at any of several steps in the process. Given Treasury's long history under both Democratic and Republican administrations of failing to combat currency manipulation, this provision is simply lip service designed to distract from the fact that the meaningful CVD provisions included in the original Senate bill have been stripped out. 
 
Also alarming is Sec. 914(e) of the conference report, which would allow countries on Tier 3 of the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report to be part of agreements that are "fast tracked" subject to the provisions of H.R. 2146 passed earlier this year. This language would make it much easier for countries with atrocious records of human trafficking, such as Thailand, to join trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership before we have seen sustained evidence that their governments are improving their efforts. Indeed, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Glyn Davies has already said that the U.S. "would welcome [Thailand] with open arms" to the TPP, despite Thailand's Tier 3 Ranking on this year's TIP Report.
 
The trafficking language is also alarming in what it says about the U.S.'s commitment to the labor provisions of the TPP and other trade agreements. Every U.S. FTA since 2007 has included language banning the use of compulsory or forced labor and requiring the effective abolition of child labor. It is facially obvious that a country that is not complying with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and is not making significant efforts to do so, as is true of all Tier 3 counties, would not be in compliance with those labor protections. So, allowing a Tier 3 country to be admitted to a trade agreement with those terms demonstrates that enforcement of those labor protections is not a priority.
 
The aforementioned issues represent only the beginning of the problems with the conference report on H.R. 644. Sec. 914 of the report also contains language that would make it much more difficult to address climate change or protect migrant workers' rights in our trade agreements. It is deeply disappointing that the report contains these harmful provisions and lacks important provisions on currency, since the ENFORCE Act and the elimination of the notorious "consumptive demand exception" for goods made with forced labor are important provisions whose passage is long overdue. 
 
CWA is deeply disappointed that the conference committee did not develop a bill that would benefit American workers and put us on a path to a better trade policy. Again, we urge you to vote no on H.R. 644. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
 
Sincerely,

Shane Larson
Legislative Director
Communications Workers of America (CWA)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015

Sierra Club Statement on Customs Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The conference committee for the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2015 (H.R. 644) has announced that an agreement as been reached. 

In response, the Sierra Club released the following statement:

"The Conference Report still contains language that would explicitly prevent the United States Trade Representative from seeking to address any rules that would impact greenhouse gas emissions, therefore preventing the U.S. from considering the impact on climate change in trade agreements. Earlier this year, environmental organizations sent up a letter <http://webiva-downton.s3.amazonaws.com/877/0b/7/6231/Environmental_groups_urge_Conferees_to_reject_anti-climate_provision_in_House_Customs_Bill.pdf> opposing the provisions. The Sierra Club continue to oppose these provisions and this legislation."

About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org <http://www.sierraclub.org/>.




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