[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3978 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3978

To require the United States Trade Representative to submit a report on 
plans to facilitate the full implementation of agreements of the World 
              Trade Organization, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 17, 2020

 Mrs. Loeffler introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the United States Trade Representative to submit a report on 
plans to facilitate the full implementation of agreements of the World 
              Trade Organization, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Enforcing Accountability and 
Transparency in International Trade Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The World Trade Organization is a 164-member 
        international organization that was created to oversee and 
        administer multilateral trade rules, serve as a forum for trade 
        liberalization negotiations, and resolve trade disputes.
            (2) The United States was a major force behind the 
        establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995.
            (3) The United States, along with other countries, has 
        sought to establish a more open, rules-based trading system in 
        the postwar era, with the goal of fostering international 
        economic cooperation and raising economic prosperity worldwide.
            (4) Congress holds constitutional authority over foreign 
        commerce and establishes trade negotiating objectives and 
        principles through legislation.
            (5) The statutory basis for the membership of the United 
        States in the World Trade Organization is the Uruguay Round 
        Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), and United States 
        priorities and objectives for the General Agreement on Tariffs 
        and Trade of the World Trade Organization have been reflected 
        in various legislative measures providing expedited trade 
        promotion authority since 1974.
            (6) Congress has recognized the World Trade Organization as 
        the ``foundation of the global trading system'' and plays a 
        direct legislative and oversight role over the implementation 
        of World Trade Organization agreements in the United States.
            (7) Ninety-eight percent of global trade is conducted among 
        members of the World Trade Organization.
            (8) Approximately 65 percent of the United States trade is 
        with countries that do not have free trade agreements with the 
        United States, such as with the People's Republic of China, the 
        European Union, and India, which thus relies on the terms 
        provided in agreements of the World Trade Organization.
            (9) About \2/3\ of the members of the World Trade 
        Organization, including the People's Republic of China, self-
        designate as ``developing'' countries.
            (10) World Trade Organization agreements allow countries to 
        lower trade barriers gradually, with developing countries and 
        sensitive sectors in particular usually given longer transition 
        periods to fulfill their obligations under new agreements.
            (11) The World Trade Organization also supplements such 
        ``special and differential'' treatment for developing countries 
        by providing capacity-building measures, providing technical 
        assistance for the implementation of obligations under World 
        Trade Organization agreements, and permitting countries to 
        extend non-reciprocal trade preference programs to such 
        developing countries.
            (12) On July 26, 2019, President Donald J. Trump issued a 
        document entitled ``Memorandum on Reforming Developing Country 
        Status in the World Trade Organization''.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON UNITED STATES STRATEGY AT THE WORLD TRADE 
              ORGANIZATION.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the United States Trade Representative shall submit to Congress a 
report describing the manner in which the Trade Representative plans to 
pursue a United States strategy with respect to the World Trade 
Organization to--
            (1) facilitate the full implementation of agreements 
        reached by the World Trade Organization;
            (2) enable the maximum benefits from trade to accrue to 
        those members of the World Trade Organization that face the 
        greatest difficulty integrating into the multilateral trading 
        system of the World Trade Organization; and
            (3) ensure that any member of the World Trade Organization 
        that meets all of the following criteria does not receive 
        ``special and differential'' treatment under current or future 
        agreements of the World Trade Organization:
                    (A) The member is ranked by the World Bank as among 
                one of the top 10 economies in the world based on 
                nominal gross domestic product.
                    (B) The member is also a member of the Group of 20.
                    (C) The member is also a member of, or has begun 
                the accession process to, the Organisation for Economic 
                Co-operation and Development.
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