[CTC] TAA Left Out of Reconciliation Package (and USTR aims to ease tensions with China)

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Politico Morning Trade

— Democrats’ new reconciliation package would dole out $1.75 trillion in climate and social spending, but the congressional bag of goodies has nothing sweet for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.

— Simmering tensions between the U.S. and China have many trade watchers feeling spooked, but U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says she wants to turn down the heat.

…

TRADE PROGRAM LEFT OUT OF RECONCILIATION PACKAGE: A seven-year, $9 billion renewal and expansion of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program did not make it into the slimmed-down $1.75 trillion package negotiated by top Democrats and the White House <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b2ef08dbd7d5a695f293319377065abb90eddff74ec6a84986d40724070553f3473e63a647311bfec2f1867b818ece6f>, a Democratic staffer told Morning Trade.

“Ways and Means asked to strip pretty much everything that wasn’t green energy and working families’ priorities, so TAA dropped out [Thursday] morning,” the staffer said, referring to the House committee with jurisdiction over trade policy. “But there is potential for a Manager’s Amendment, which could add some provisions back in” when the bill is considered on the House floor, the staffer added.

TAA partly expired this summer and will expire completely next year. The program provides retraining and unemployment assistance to workers who have lost their job because of increased import competition.

A win for semiconductors: On the other hand, the draft spending bill does contain a modified version of the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors Act (S.2107), or FABS Act, providing an investment tax credit for manufacturing microchips in the U.S. The Semiconductor Industry Association applauded its apparent inclusion in the reconciliation package.

USTR AIMS TO EASE TENSIONS WITH CHINA: Tai told the National Chicken Council on Thursday that she aims to defuse heightened trade tensions with Beijing and promote agriculture exports to China.

Speaking at the poultry trade group’s annual conference, Tai said she wants to “bring the temperature down so that we can have a sober relationship and a sober conversation about how we can stabilize the parts of our trade that are working,” Reuters reported <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b2ef08dbd7d5a69502bded739fed1558c98fbaf7b4ead5acbd60e2f200c56ec46132c4ab54b46890d09af413dc8661ca>. 

She didn’t start the fire: The U.S.-China relationship currently “feels kind of like a pile of dry tinder,” Reuters quoted Tai as saying, adding that a misunderstanding “is likely to spark basically just a giant fire with really, really drastic implications for all of us.”

Tai began direct talks with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, earlier this month. She brought up China’s failure to meet purchase commitments under the Phase One agreement and its non-market trade practices that harm American workers and companies, her office said. 

Despite strained relations, Tai told the National Chicken Council that she sees potential for growing food exports to China. “China has a huge market, a huge population — and they all need to be fed. It needs ag imports. That is something that we can supply,” she said.

Earlier that day: Tai also joined Labor Secretary Marty Walsh at the Indo-Pacific Business Forum, where she outlined the administration’s desire to enhance protections for workers’ rights and eliminate forced labor in global supply chains, according to her office.

Their appearance came after Biden met this weekend with leaders from around the region. He pledged to craft an “economic framework” that would cover topics such as trade facilitation, digital economy and labor standards, though the White House declined to provide further details.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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