[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 28 (Thursday, February 16, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S1306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Schumer, 
        Mr. Brown, Mr. Casey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Leahy, 
        Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Warren, Mrs. Feinstein, and 
        Mr. Reed):
  S. 408. A bill to require the President to disclose income, assets, 
and liabilities associated with countries with which the United States 
is negotiating a trade or investment agreement, countries subject to 
presidential determinations in trade enforcement actions, and countries 
eligible for trade preference programs, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Finance.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I, along with 13 of my Senate 
colleagues, am introducing the Presidential Trade Transparency Act of 
2017. This bill establishes new reporting requirements directing the 
President to disclose foreign income, assets, and liabilities when 
initiating or continuing trade or investment negotiations with a 
foreign country, taking or refraining to take certain trade enforcement 
actions, or granting or modifying preferential tariff treatment under 
statutory trade preference programs. Each of these decisions may have 
significant commercial implications, both as to a foreign country's 
economy as a whole and with respect to particular investments within a 
foreign country. Given the complexity and lack of transparency with 
respect to the President's finances, additional country-specific 
reporting is necessary for Congress to properly exercise its oversight 
responsibilities and assess whether the authority it has granted to the 
President is the subject of undue influence due to a business 
relationship between the President and one or more foreign entities. 
Reporting of this information will also help address questions 
regarding improper influence by foreign entities when the President 
exercises trade authorities granted by Congress.
  Americans have a right to know if the President is looking out for 
the good of the country or just his own bottom line when he negotiates 
a trade deal, decides whether or not to enforce our trade laws, or 
decides whether to cut tariffs on imports from a developing country. 
The President has business interests around the world, but he continues 
to keep the full nature of those ties secret.
  Under the Constitution, Congress is responsible for regulating 
foreign commerce, including setting U.S. tariff rates applicable to 
imports from foreign countries. However, Congress has granted the 
President limited authority to modify U.S. tariffs in certain 
circumstances, including to enforce U.S. laws protecting U.S. industry 
from harmful trade or to address foreign trade barriers, to negotiate 
trade agreements that eliminate foreign barriers to U.S. exports, and 
to grant developing countries preferential access to the U.S. market.
  In many instances, the President himself is granted this authority 
and does not exercise it through a Cabinet official. While Congress has 
granted such authority to the President, it retains the responsibility 
to ensure that the President uses the authority in a manner consistent 
with congressional objectives.
  The bill directs the President to report to Congress information 
regarding foreign income, assets, and liabilities, consistent with the 
information required to be disclosed under the Ethics in Government 
Act, specifically as to any country that is the subject of a trade 
negotiation, trade enforcement action or inaction, or decision to grant 
or deny tariff preferences, and to describe in detail the nature of the 
connection between the income, asset, or liability and the foreign 
country. The bill specifies deadlines for disclosure of the information 
with respect to each action that generally track existing deadlines for 
Presidential reporting under U.S. law.
  Failure to timely submit a report would render without legal effect a 
Presidential proclamation modifying U.S. tariffs with respect to the 
country and, with respect to a trade agreement, would disqualify the 
agreement from eligibility for expedited consideration under trade 
promotion authority.
  Passage of this bill would close a key loophole in congressional 
oversight authorities over trade and shine much needed daylight on the 
financial relationship between the President and America's trading 
partners.
  I thank my colleagues for their efforts on this bill, and I hope the 
Finance Committee will consider our proposal quickly.
                                 ______