[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5790 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5790

  To provide for the establishment of a task force to identify trade 
  barriers to United States agricultural exports and carry out other 
                            related duties.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2023

  Mr. Crawford (for himself, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Carter of 
    Louisiana, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, Mr. Kelly of 
   Mississippi, Mr. Mann, Mr. Alford, Ms. Letlow, and Mr. Feenstra) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for the establishment of a task force to identify trade 
  barriers to United States agricultural exports and carry out other 
                            related duties.

    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 ``Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural 
Disputes and Enforcement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Agricultural competitiveness through access to 
        international markets is a vital part of the United States 
        economy.
            (2) A healthy, well-functioning rules-based trading system 
        is the basis for the success of United States agricultural 
        exports.
            (3) When foreign governments erect trade barriers this 
        makes it difficult for United States agricultural exporters to 
        compete in the global marketplace while undermining the rules-
        based trading system.
            (4) These trade barriers can harm United States farmers, 
        ranchers, workers, and businesses, and they can also lead to 
        higher prices for consumers and a less resilient international 
        trading system.
            (5) Dispute settlement is available through trade 
        agreements with 163 other countries and there are protectionist 
        trade barriers to United States agricultural exports in many of 
        these countries.
            (6) Many of these barriers are systemically important. For 
        example, India's unrestrained use of price support programs 
        violates its commitments under the World Trade Organization 
        (WTO).
            (7) India recognizes that its price support programs 
        violate its WTO commitments, so instead of reforming its 
        programs, it has repeatedly demanded a permanent exemption from 
        disputes for these programs. Moreover, India has tried to 
        prevent discussions at the WTO of any other significant 
        agricultural trade issue unless it receives such a permanent 
        exemption.
            (8) The Government of India has repeatedly raised its 
        minimum price supports, which has had negative effects on 
        several commodity markets and most notably has led to its 
        dominance of the global rice trade, with a 40-percent share of 
        the global market since marketing year 2020 through 2021. India 
        is also the world's largest producer of pulses and second 
        largest producer of wheat, peanuts, and cotton.
            (9) The United States Trade Representative submitted a 
        counter notification at the World Trade Organization in 2023 
        showing that price supports by the Government of India for rice 
        increased from 78.6 percent of the value of production in 
        marketing year 2014 through 2015 to 93.9 percent of the value 
        of production in marketing year 2020 through 2021, compared to 
        the limit at the World Trade Organization on increased price 
        supports of 10 percent of the value of production. That counter 
        notification also showed price supports by the Government of 
        India for wheat increasing from 77.7 percent to 81.3 percent 
        during the same period. Previous counter notifications have 
        shown similar violations by the government of India for other 
        commodities. For example, in the 2016/17 marketing year, the 
        support level was 67.9 percent for cotton, 31.7 percent for 
        chickpeas, 41 percent for lentils, and 47.4 percent for pulses 
        overall.
            (10) Minor attempts to reform the Indian agriculture 
        subsidy system in the marketing year 2020/2021 failed to 
        produce results. The enacted reforms would not have changed the 
        policies that violate WTO commitments but would have merely 
        provided farmers with opportunities to sell their products 
        outside of the government-run ``mandi'' system, but those were 
        ultimately repealed.
            (11) Dispute settlement is an effective way to provide a 
        neutral assessment of compliance with trade agreement terms and 
        empower internal reformers who recognize a problem but have not 
        been able to overcome entrenched resistance.
            (12) Global agriculture is uniquely susceptible to trade 
        barriers and requires special attention to resolve myriad 
        systemic and economically significant trade violations that 
        impede the development of a resilient, sustainable, and rules-
        based agricultural trading system.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States should accelerate efforts to address 
        foreign trade barriers that harm United States agricultural 
        exports;
            (2) the Office of the United States Trade Representative 
        and the Department of Agriculture both have a critical role in 
        developing agricultural trade disputes;
            (3) Congress and the private sector have key roles to play 
        in the development of disputes and agricultural trade 
        enforcement strategy;
            (4) in the case of India's minimum price supports, the 
        United States has exhausted other options available through the 
        World Trade Organization short of requesting consultations 
        under the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU);
            (5) there should be a plan and definitive deadlines in 
        place for a request for consultations and establishment of a 
        panel under the DSU;
            (6) the Office of the United States Trade Representative 
        and the Department of Agriculture should jointly develop a 
        proactive enforcement strategy for addressing systemic and 
        economically significant trade barriers in the agriculture 
        sector, in consultation with Congress and the private sector; 
        and
            (7) the Office of the United States Trade Representative is 
        the lead agency for United States trade policy.

SEC. 4. AGRICULTURAL TRADE ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCE.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall establish a joint task force 
to be known as the ``Agricultural Trade Enforcement Task Force'' 
(referred to in this section as the ``Task Force'').
    (b) Duties.--
            (1) In general.--The Task Force shall--
                    (A) identify trade barriers to United States 
                agricultural exports that are vulnerable to dispute 
                settlement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) or 
                other trade agreements;
                    (B) develop and implement a strategy for enforcing 
                violations of trade agreements related to these trade 
                barriers;
                    (C) identify like-minded trading partners for 
                specific trade barriers that could act as co-
                complainants or primary complainants on disputes that 
                are systemically or economically important to the 
                United States; and
                    (D) report quarterly to Congress on progress 
                towards resolving cases or filing disputes.
            (2) Consultation.--In carrying out its duties under this 
        subsection, the Task Force shall regularly consult, to the 
        extent necessary and appropriate, with the following:
                    (A) Relevant stakeholders in the private sector, 
                including the agricultural trade advisory committees.
                    (B) Federal departments and agencies that are not 
                represented on the Task Force.
                    (C) Like-minded trading partners that are similarly 
                concerned with trade barriers and are potential 
                participants in the dispute settlement process.
    (c) Membership.--
            (1) In general.--The Task Force shall be comprised of the 
        following members:
                    (A) One or more employees of the Foreign 
                Agricultural Service, who shall be appointed by the 
                Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural 
                Affairs.
                    (B) One of more employees of the Office of the 
                United States Trade Representative, who shall be 
                appointed jointly by the General Counsel for the Office 
                of the United States Trade Representative and the Chief 
                Agricultural Negotiator.
                    (C) One or more employees of other Federal agencies 
                as needed, who shall be appointed jointly by the 
                officials specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B).
            (2) Qualification.--Employees of the Federal agencies 
        specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of paragraph (1) 
        may be appointed as members of the Task Force only if such 
        employees have appropriate expertise in agricultural trade 
        policy and trade enforcement.
    (d) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, 
        the Task Force shall submit to Congress a report on its 
        progress in identifying and addressing trade barriers to United 
        States agricultural exports.
            (2) Matters to be included.--The report required by this 
        subsection shall include the following:
                    (A) A description of the systemic and economically 
                significant trade barriers that have been identified.
                    (B) A justification for including the identified 
                trade barriers.
                    (C) A description of the progress that has been 
                made in developing dispute settlement cases and further 
                information that is required.
                    (D) The current status of ongoing disputes at the 
                WTO and implementation of panel, arbitration, or 
                Appellate Body decisions.
            (3) Additional matters to be included in initial report.--
        The initial report required by this subsection shall, in 
        addition to the matters described in subparagraphs (A), (B), 
        (C), and (D) of paragraph (2), include a plan to file a request 
        under the WTO dispute settlement process for consultations to 
        address India's minimum price supports. The plan shall 
        include--
                    (A) an identification of like-minded trading 
                partners that could act as co-complainants or primary 
                complainants with respect to the request;
                    (B) a description of specific claims the United 
                States intends to make with respect to the request; and
                    (C) a timeline to--
                            (i) request consultations; and
                            (ii) request the establishment of a panel 
                        not later than 60 days after the date of the 
                        request for consultations if India does not 
                        provide assurances that it will address its 
                        minimum price supports.
    (e) Congressional Briefings.--The United States Trade 
Representative and the Secretary of Agriculture shall provide briefings 
on the Task Force to appropriate Members of Congress and congressional 
staff.
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