US Senate approves key amendment that improves chance of China bill’s passage
- A Republican who pressed for the bipartisan amendment calls the sweeping bill ‘the intersection between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on trade policy’
- Amendment addresses China’s ‘anticompetitive digital trade and censorship practices’
The US Senate voted on Thursday to include a bipartisan amendment to a wide-ranging bill meant to boost America’s competitiveness against – and bolster efforts to confront – China, increasing the likelihood that the chamber will pass the legislation.
The Senate voted 94 to 1 to include the Trade Act of 2021, introduced by Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho and Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, as an amendment to the Innovation and Competition Act. The move helps add support for the larger bill, which could come to a vote any time.
Crapo called the 852-page bill “the intersection between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on trade policy”.
The amendment “provides modernised trade enforcement tools to the US trade representative to address anticompetitive digital trade and censorship practices like China’s Great Firewall” by requiring the trade representative’s office to identify trading partners that disrupt digital trade, among other provisions, according to Crapo’s announcement.
“This strong trade package will help stand up our efforts in pushing back against China in one of the most critical arenas that we face – trade, our economy and working against the very nefarious activities that China is engaged in to try to undercut us economically, and to undercut our American companies in our trade relationship,” Crapo said.
The amendment also ensures that punitive tariffs on Chinese goods “are calibrated to provide the necessary leverage to support American competition while ensuring US competitiveness in manufacturing”.