[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2208 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2208
To require the United States International Trade Commission to
investigate tariff policies relating to foreign-trade zones.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 24, 2021
Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Carper, Mr. Toomey, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr.
Coons, and Mr. Lankford) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the United States International Trade Commission to
investigate tariff policies relating to foreign-trade zones.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement Foreign-Trade Zone Modernization Act of 2021'' or the ``USMCA
FTZ Modernization Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Expanding benefits to United States workers and
businesses, reshoring critical supply chains, and creating
United States based manufacturing requires analyzing tariff
policies, assessing any negative impacts that tariffs may have
on United States businesses and workers, and identifying the
most effective policy options to correct those impacts and to
revisit tariff treatment, if needed, particularly with respect
to manufactured products exported from countries with which the
United States has a free trade agreement in effect.
(2) The North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation
Act (Public Law 103-182; 107 Stat. 2057) included a
restriction, in section 202(a)(2)(A) of that Act, that
prevented goods manufactured in foreign-trade zones from
receiving preferential tariff treatment under the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
(3) Title VI of division O of the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116-260) made a set of
``technical corrections'' to the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) and
included the same restriction described in paragraph (2).
(4) United States manufacturers operating in foreign-trade
zones believe that that restriction removes parity with their
counterparts in the equivalent of foreign-trade zones under
Mexico and Canada's export-promotion programs, which do not
have a similar restriction in place.
(5) Canadian and Mexican manufacturers already enjoy
advantages over United States manufacturers operating in the
North American market as a result of--
(A) Mexico and Canada's export-promotion programs
and extensive networks of free trade agreements,
including with the European Union and Japan; and
(B) not being subject to restrictions comparable to
the unilateral restrictions on United States-based
manufacturing in foreign-trade zones under the United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act,
which were carried over from the North American Free
Trade Agreement Implementation Act.
(6) Among other things, the advantages described in
paragraph (5) may encourage the location of manufacturing in
Canada and Mexico, rather than the United States.
SEC. 3. INVESTIGATION OF TARIFF POLICIES RELATING TO FOREIGN-TRADE
ZONES.
(a) In General.--The United States International Trade Commission
shall conduct an investigation to examine--
(1) policies, particularly differences in tariff treatment
by the United States and Canada and Mexico, that create
inequities between products manufactured in the United States
in foreign-trade zones and products manufactured in the
equivalent of such zones in Canada and Mexico under the USMCA
(as defined in section 3 of the United States-Mexico-Canada
Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4502));
(2) any effects those policies have on the cost-
competitiveness of products manufactured in the United States
for both the domestic and export markets compared to products
manufactured in Canada or Mexico under the USMCA, including an
analysis by sector and State; and
(3) how the foreign-trade zones in the United States could
be better employed to redress and mitigate those inequities.
(b) Exclusions From Investigation.--The Commission shall exclude
from the investigation required by subsection (a) examination of duties
imposed under--
(1) chapter 1 of title II the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2251 et seq.);
(2) title III of that Act (19 U.S.C. 2411 et seq.);
(3) section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19
U.S.C. 1862); or
(4) any other trade remedy law of the United States.
(c) Assistance From Other Agencies.--The Secretary of Homeland
Security and the Secretary of Commerce shall make available to the
Commission such information as is necessary for the Commission to
conduct the investigation required by subsection (a).
(d) Report Required.--Not later than 18 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a
report on the investigation required by subsection (a).
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