Midwest Lawmakers Introduce Fair Trade Legislation

A group of Senators from the Upper-Midwest introduced a bill this week to crack down on trade cheating.  Legislators say the Play by the Rules Act will hold China accountable for ignoring trade rules and harming American workers.  U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws are designed to stop trade partners from tipping the scales in their favor and forcing American workers to compete at a disadvantage.  The rules are widely used and mostly followed by World Trade Organization members.

However, non-market economies, such as China, are engaged in a sophisticated and government-backed effort to avoid paying the duties required by the rules, according to the lawmakers.

The bill provides the Commerce Department additional flexibility when reviewing anti-circumvention petitions filed against nonmarket economies like China.  The flexibility will allow the Commerce Department to better combat China’s attempts to cheat U.S. workers and businesses. Senate Democrats Tammy Baldwin (WI), Debbie Stabenow (MI), along with Senate Republicans Shelley Moore Capito (WV), and Bill Cassidy (LA), introduced the bipartisan legislation.

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