Congressional Research Service Reports - 35 Matching Results
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- The World Trade Organization (WTO): U.S. Participation at Risk?
- This report discusses the possibility that the U.S. will withdraw from the World Trade Organization (WTO), after the Trump Administration expressed doubt over its value to the U.S. economy.
- Escalating Tariffs: Timeline and Potential Impact
- This report provides a timeline of key events related to U.S. trade actions on steel and aluminium tariffs and tariffs against China.
- Andean Regional Initiative (ARI): FY2003 Supplemental and FY2004 Assistance for Colombia and Neighbors
- No Description Available.
- Fast Track for Trade Agreements: Procedural Controls for Congress and Proposed Alternatives
- This report contains the procedural controls for Congress and proposed alternatives of the fast track for trade agreements.
- Agricultural Exports and the 2007 Farm Bill
- This report assesses 2007 farm bill trade title provisions for U.S. agricultural export programs. Moreover, the report considers the modifications made to both the Senate and House of Representatives version of the bill to meet World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.
- The World Trade Organization: Background and Issues
- This report contains a background on the World Trade Organization and its issues.
- Caribbean-U.S. Relations: Issues in the 110th Congress
- This report deals with broader issues in the U.S relations with the Caribbean, including foreign assistance; counternarcotics and security cooperation; support to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic; trade policy; the deportation issue; and energy issues.
- India-U.S. Economic and Trade Relations
- This report provides a summary of India's current political climate, its economic condition and policies, the recent trends in bilateral trade and foreign direct investment, and key economic and trade issues between India and the United States.
- Agricultural Trade in a U .S .-Central America n Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA )
- As part of its overall trade strategy, the Bush Administration over the last year began negotiating bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreements with four regional blocs or countries. Negotiations on a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) involving Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua began in late January 2003 and are currently scheduled to conclude this December. While negotiators have reportedly made progress in a number of areas, efforts to formulate a framework for handling agricultural trade have been slow.
- Trade Promotion Authority and Fast-Track Negotiating Authority for Trade Agreements: Major Votes
- This report profiles significant legislation from 1974 to the present that authorizes the use of presidential Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), previously known as fast-track trade negotiating authority. The report also identifies significant bills and resolutions that had floor votes. It also includes a list of floor votes on implementing legislation for trade agreements from 1979 to the present; these bills were passed under TPA expedited procedures by Congress and signed by the President.
- Europe’s New Trade Agenda
- This report summarizes the European Union's new initiative, casts the initiative in a historical perspective, and assesses the implications of this shift for the global trading system and for U.S. interests.
- Trade Remedy Legislation: Applying Countervailing Action to Nonmarket Economy Countries
- This report contains the trade remedy legislation on applying countervailing action to nonmarket economy countries.
- U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications
- This report provides an overview of U.S.-Mexico trade and economic trends, the Mexican economy, the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and major trade issues between the United States and Mexico.
- The Role of Trade Secrets in Innovation Policy
- This report provides an overview of the law and policy of trade secrets. It discusses the role of trade secrets in U.S. innovation policy. It then reviews the sources of trade secret law and the substantive rules that they provide. The report then provides a more detailed review of existing federal legislation that pertains to trade secrets. In its next section, the report then discusses the relationship between patent law and trade secret law. The report closes with an identification of congressional issues and options within this field.
- U.S. Trade Remedy Laws and Nonmarket Economies: A Legal Overview
- This report discusses the application of antidumping and countervailing duty law to the goods of nonmarket economy (NME) countries, including the decision of the Department of Commerce (DOC) in 2007 to change its long-standing policy and apply CVD law to such goods; reviews China's successful case in the World Trade Organization challenging the U.S. application of CVDs to Chinese products and the status of U.S. compliance efforts in the case; examines the December 2011 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in GPX Int'l Tire Corp. v. United States holding that the U.S. CVD law does not authorize DOC to apply CVDs to NME country goods; summarizes the subsequently enacted P.L. 112-99, signed March 13, 2012, a statute authorizing DOC to apply CVDs to such products; and notes recent developments in the GPX litigation.
- Overview of Labor Enforcement Issues in Free Trade Agreements
- This report identifies two types of labor enforcement issues: those that relate to the free trade agreements (FTA) provisions themselves, including their definitions and their enforceability, and those that relate to executive branch responsibilities, such as resource availability and determining dispute settlement case priorities.
- What's the Difference?--Comparing U.S. and Chinese Trade Data
- This report discusses the size of the U.S. bilateral trade deficit with China that continues to be an important issue in bilateral trade relations.
- Chinese Tire Imports: Section 421 Safeguards and the World Trade Organization (WTO)
- This report covers the Chinese-filed World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against the U.S. over Section 421 of the Trade Acts of 1941, which has been renewed several times since. Section 421 authorizes the President to impose safeguards—that is, temporary measures such as import surcharges or quotas—on Chinese goods if domestic market disruption is found.
- The G-20 and International Economic Cooperation: Background and Implications for Congress
- This report discusses the background of the G-20 (an international forum for discussing and coordinating economic policies) and some of the issues that it has addressed. It includes historic background on the work of the G-20, information about how the group operates, overviews of G-20 summits, major issues that the group is likely to address and the likely effectiveness of the G-20 in the near future. The members of the G-20 include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
- Trade Reorganization: Overview and Issues for Congress
- On January 13, 2012, President Obama asked Congress for authority to reorganize and consolidate into one department the business- and trade-related functions of six federal entities. U.S. policymakers' interest in the organizational structure of U.S. government trade functions has grown in recent years, stimulated by congressional and federal efforts to promote U.S. exports and employment, including through the National Export Initiative (NEI). Interest also has been stimulated by national debates on reducing federal spending and the size of the U.S. government. This report looks at the policy debate and role of Congress in such a move.
- Israel's Offshore Natural Gas Discoveries Enhance Its Economic and Energy Outlook
- This report discusses Israel's historical dependence on energy imports, and the recent offshore natural gas discoveries that could possibly make Israel a prominent exporter of natural gas. This report also discusses how development of the recently discovered natural gas fields could affect Israel's economy and energy security, and how Israel may or may not consult with the U.S. or other natural gas producting countries while weighing its options.
- Space Launch Vehicles: Government Activities, Commercial Competition, and Satellite Exports
- No Description Available.
- Tobacco Farmer Assistance
- No Description Available.
- Tobacco Farmer Assistance
- No Description Available.
- Agricultural Trade in the Free Trade Area of the Americas
- Leaders of Western Hemisphere countries have agreed to negotiate a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement by 2005. FTAA’s objective is to promote economic growth and democracy by eliminating barriers to trade in all goods (including agricultural and food products) and services, and to facilitate investment. If diplomats reach agreement, free trade in the hemisphere could occur by 2020. Negotiations on FTAA’s agriculture component have become contentious. This report discusses the controversial aspects of FTAA, describes the advantages and disadvantages of FTAA, and discusses FTAA in relation to the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
- U.S. Taxation of Overseas Investment and Income: Background and Issues in 2005
- This report is on U.S. Taxation of Overseas Investment and Income: Background and Issues in 2005.
- The Budget Deficit and the Trade Deficit: What Is Their Relationship?
- During the last half of the 1990s, real gross domestic investment rose as a fraction of real GDP. This resulted from the rise in U.S. productivity and the related rise in the real yield on U.S. assets. This drew additional private capital from abroad. If the twin deficits theory is correct, it has an adverse implication for the efficacy of fiscal policy as a stimulus tool. It suggests that in an environment of highly mobile international capital flows the effect of policy induced increases in the structural budget deficit (e.g., tax cuts) on short-run economic growth would be largely offset by increases in the trade deficit. The experience during both the 1980s and 1990s demonstrates that a large and growing trade deficit need not be an impediment to overall job creation even though it may have had an effect on the type of jobs that were created since it affected the composition of U.S. output.
- Taiwan: Major U.S. Arms Sales Since 1990
- No Description Available.
- Why Certain Trade Agreements Are Approved as Congressional-Executive Agreements Rather Than as Treaties
- No Description Available.
- The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA)
- Report discussing the Iran Libya Sanctions Act as well as the legislative developments that occurred regarding the act.
- Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation
- Falling agricultural exports and declining commodity prices led farm groups and agribusiness firms to urge the 106th Congress to pass legislation exempting foods and agricultural commodities from U.S. economic sanctions against certain countries. In completing action on the FY2001 agriculture appropriations bill, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to apply to Cuba (Title IX of H.R. 5426, as enacted by P.L. 106-387; Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000). Related provisions place financing and licensing conditions on sales to these countries. Those that apply to Cuba, though, are permanent and more restrictive than for the other countries. Other provisions give Congress the authority in the future to veto a President's proposal to impose a sanction on the sale of agricultural or medical products.
- U.S.-Japan Economic Ties: Status and Outlook
- No Description Available.
- Fast Track for Trade Agreements: Procedural Controls for Congress and Proposed Alternatives
- This report discusses the fast track trade procedures in the Trade Act of 1974 operate as procedural rules of the House and Senate, and the statute itself declares them to be enacted as an exercise of the constitutional authority of each house to determine its own rules. These procedures prevent Congress from altering an implementing bill or declining to act, but permit it to enact or reject the bill. By these means Congress retains authority to legislate in the areas covered, yet affords the President conditions for effective negotiation.
- Agricultural Trade in a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
- As part of its overall trade strategy, the Bush Administration over the last year began negotiating bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreements with four regional blocs or countries. Negotiations on a U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) involving Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua began in late January 2003 and are currently scheduled to conclude this December. While negotiators have reportedly made progress in a number of areas, efforts to formulate a framework for handling agricultural trade have been slow.
- Agricultural Export and Food Aid Programs
- This report discusses projected agricultural imports and exports for FY2002, as well as legislation that deals with federal programs in support of agricultural exports and federal aid dedicated to farms and agricultural reform.