For more information on pursuing trade policy interests through the legislative process, please contact Nicole Bivens Collinson at (202) 730-4956 or via email.
Tariffs. The Back-to-School Supplies Affordability Act (H.R. 10251, introduced Sept. 3 by Rep. Boyle, D-Pa.) would limit the duties that may be imposed with respect to school supplies and educational materials. According to a press release this bill directs the departments of Commerce and Education to jointly create a list of tariff-free school supplies and specifically exempts the following from the tariffs President Trump has imposed: office and school supplies; backpacks; notebooks, memorandum pads, and similar paper products; children’s picture, drawing, and coloring books; calendars; computer keyboards; hairbrushes; pencils, crayons, chalk, and other drawing materials; and pens, markers, and related writing instruments.
Ten Democrat members of the House of Representatives wrote to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott Sept. 9 urging him to “take quick action” to rectify the “significant logistical hurdles” that some businesses have encountered in receiving refunds for tariffs assessed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Forced labor. H.R. 10346 (introduced Sept. 10 by Rep. Smith, R-N.J.) seeks to ensure that goods made using or containing cobalt extracted or processed with the use of child or forced labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo do not enter the U.S. market.
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