I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 735
To authorize the President to take certain actions relating to reciprocal
trade, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2025
Mr. M
OOREof West Virginia (for himself, Ms. GREENEof Georgia, Mr. COL-
LINS, Mr. MCDOWELL, Mr. HAMADEHof Arizona, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr.
J
ACK, Mr. BEGICH, and Mr. RULLI) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to
the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To authorize the President to take certain actions relating
to reciprocal trade, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Recip-4
rocal Trade Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) The United States maintains an open mar-1
ket for goods, with relatively low tariffs, and has 2
long encouraged trading partners, both bilaterally 3
and in multilateral fora, to liberalize their markets. 4
(2) The United States is the world’s largest im-5
porter of goods. 6
(3) Trading partners of the United States in 7
many instances impose significantly higher tariffs on 8
United States goods than the United States imposes 9
on the same or similar goods imported from those 10
same countries. 11
(4) Europeans have continued to protect their 12
auto markets from United States automotive compa-13
nies through high tariffs while dumping cheap Euro-14
pean cars into the United States, undermining our 15
automotive industry. 16
(5) Canadian and Mexican authorities have 17
flooded American markets with cheap goods while si-18
multaneously allowing for illegal migrants and poi-19
sonous fentanyl to pour into the United States. 20
(6) United States trading partners in many in-21
stances impose significant nontariff barriers that 22
greatly undermine the value of negotiated tariff con-23
cessions. 24
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(7) The lack of reciprocity in tariff levels and 1
disproportionate use of nontariff barriers by United 2
States trading partners facilitates foreign imports, 3
discourages United States exports, and puts United 4
States producers, farmers, and workers at a com-5
petitive disadvantage. 6
(8) The lack of reciprocity in tariff levels and 7
nontariff barriers contributes to the large and grow-8
ing United States trade deficit in goods, which is a 9
drag on economic growth and undermines economic 10
prosperity. 11
(9) Tariffs under the Trump presidency sub-12
stantially shrank the trade deficit with China. 13
(10) The President must be able to levy tariffs 14
on our global competitors. Preferential treatment of 15
adversaries, such as China’s Most Favored Nation 16
trading status, undermines American national secu-17
rity interests domestically and around the world. 18
(11) To date a number of United States trad-19
ing partners have been unwilling, including in multi-20
lateral negotiations, to reduce tariffs and eliminate 21
nontariff barriers applied to United States exports. 22
(12) The United States should seek action by 23
United States trading partners to lower tariffs and 24
eliminate nontariff barriers, to promote efficiency in 25
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those markets and enhance opportunities for United 1
States producers, farmers, and workers. 2
(13) For the United States to maintain its eco-3
nomic dominance globally, the President must have 4
the authority to levy reciprocal tariffs against unfair 5
trading partners. 6
(14) The President should have a wide array of 7
tools to open the markets of United States trading 8
partners and encourage participation in negotiations 9
to liberalize trade in goods on a fair and reciprocal 10
basis, including the authority to adjust tariff rates 11
to reciprocal levels. 12
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS RELATING 13
TO RECIPROCAL TRADE. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—If the President determines 15
that— 16
(1) the rate of duty imposed by a foreign coun-17
try with respect to a particular good, when imported 18
from the United States, is significantly higher than 19
the rate of duty imposed by the United States on 20
that good, when imported from that country, or 21
(2) the nontariff barriers applied by a foreign 22
country with respect to a particular good, when im-23
ported from the United States, impose significantly 24
higher burdens, alone or in combination with any 25
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tariffs imposed by that country on that good, than 1
the burdens of the nontariff barriers applied by the 2
United States with respect to that good, alone or in 3
combination with any tariffs imposed by the United 4
States on that good, when imported from that coun-5
try, 6
the President may take one or more of the actions author-7
ized under subsection (b). 8
(b) A
CTIONSAUTHORIZED.—The actions authorized 9
under this subsection are the following: 10
(1) To negotiate and seek to enter into an 11
agreement with the foreign country that commits the 12
country to reduce the rate of duty or reduce or 13
eliminate nontariff barriers on the good that is the 14
subject of the determination under subsection (a). 15
(2) To impose a rate of duty on imports of the 16
good that is equal to— 17
(A) the rate of duty imposed by the foreign 18
country with respect to the good, in the case of 19
a determination described in subsection (a)(1); 20
or 21
(B) the effective rate of duty of the non-22
tariff barriers applied by the foreign country 23
with respect to the good, alone or in combina-24
tion with any tariffs imposed by that country 25
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on that good, in the case of a determination de-1
scribed in subsection (a)(2). 2
(c) F
ACTORS.—In taking an action authorized under 3
subsection (b), the President shall consider the following 4
factors: 5
(1) The tariff classification of the good by the 6
United States and the tariff classification of the 7
good by the foreign country. 8
(2) The rate of duty applied by the United 9
States with respect to the good and the rate of duty 10
applied by the foreign country with respect to the 11
good. 12
(3) The physical characteristics of the good. 13
(4) The end uses and existence of a competitive 14
relationship between the good— 15
(A) as exported from the United States to 16
the foreign country; and 17
(B) as imported from the country to the 18
United States. 19
(5) The level of exports of the good by the 20
country to the United States and to other countries. 21
(6) In the case of a determination described in 22
subsection (a)(1), the extent to which the rate of 23
duty applied by the foreign country with respect to 24
the good is impeding or distorting trade. 25
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(7) In the case of a determination described in 1
subsection (a)(2)— 2
(A) the extent of the nontariff barriers ap-3
plied by the foreign country with respect to the 4
good and the extent of the nontariff barriers 5
applied by the United States with respect to the 6
good; 7
(B) the extent to which the nontariff bar-8
riers applied by the country with respect to the 9
good, alone or in combination with any tariffs 10
imposed by that country on that good, are im-11
peding or distorting trade; 12
(C) the identified purpose of the nontariff 13
barriers applied by the country with respect to 14
the good, if any, and the extent to which the 15
nontariff barriers are more restrictive than nec-16
essary to meet that purpose; and 17
(D) the degree of transparency of the proc-18
ess by which the country adopted the nontariff 19
barriers. 20
(8) Other factors, as the President determines 21
appropriate. 22
(d) R
OLE OFUSTR.—The United States Trade Rep-23
resentative, in consultation with the Secretary of Treas-24
ury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other 25
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relevant Federal agencies, shall advise the President in de-1
termining the effective rate of duty imposed by the non-2
tariff barriers applied by a foreign country with respect 3
to a good, alone or in combination with any tariffs imposed 4
by that country on that good, in the case of a determina-5
tion described in subsection (a)(2). 6
(e) L
OWERRATE OFDUTY.—The President may im-7
pose a rate of duty on imports of a good from a foreign 8
country that is lower than the rate of duty described in 9
subsection (b)(2)(A) or lower than the effective rate of 10
duty described in subsection (b)(2)(B), as the case may 11
be, if the President determines that application of such 12
lower rate of duty is necessary and appropriate. 13
(f) H
IGHERRATE OFDUTY.—If the President im-14
poses a rate of duty on imports of a good from a foreign 15
country under subsection (b)(2), and the country further 16
increases its rate of duty on imports of the good from the 17
United States, the President may further increase the rate 18
of duty on imports of the good from the country to a rate 19
that is equal to the rate of duty applied by that country. 20
(g) T
ERMINATION.—The President shall terminate 21
the imposition of any increase in the rate of duty on im-22
ports of a good from a foreign country under subsection 23
(b)(2) effective on the date on which the President deter-24
mines that— 25
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(1) the foreign country is no longer— 1
(A) imposing a rate of duty with respect to 2
the good, as described in subsection (a)(1); or 3
(B) applying nontariff barriers with re-4
spect to the good, as described in subsection 5
(a)(2); or 6
(2) continued imposition of the increased rate 7
of duty on imports of the good from the foreign 8
country is not in the economic or public interest of 9
the United States. 10
SEC. 4. NOTICE AND CONSULTATION. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Before taking any action author-12
ized under section 3(b)(1), the President shall provide no-13
tice to and consult with the Committee on Ways and 14
Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee 15
on Finance of the Senate regarding the proposed action. 16
(b) N
OTICE.—Before taking any action authorized 17
under section 3(b)(2), the President shall— 18
(1) not less than 30 days before the date on 19
which imposition of an increased rate of duty on im-20
ports of a good from a foreign country is to take ef-21
fect, publish notice in the Federal Register of, and 22
allow for public comment on, the proposed imposi-23
tion and level of such increased rate of duty; and 24
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(2) seek advice regarding the proposed action 1
from the advisory committees established under sec-2
tion 135 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 3
2155). 4
(c) A
DDITIONALNOTICE.—The President shall 5
promptly publish in the Federal Register notice of any ac-6
tion taken pursuant to section 3(f) or 3(g). 7
SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF PRESIDENTIAL 8
IMPOSITION OF RATES OF DUTY ON IMPORTS 9
OF GOODS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES 10
UNDER SECTION 3(b)(2); DISAPPROVAL RESO-11
LUTION. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An action taken by the President 13
under section 3(b)(2) to impose a rate of duty on imports 14
of a good from a foreign country shall cease to have force 15
and effect upon the enactment of a disapproval resolution, 16
provided for in subsection (b), relating to that action. 17
(b) C
ONGRESSIONAL RULEMAKING POWER; DIS-18
APPROVALRESOLUTION.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This section is enacted by 20
the Congress— 21
(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 22
of the House of Representatives and the Sen-23
ate, respectively, and as such is deemed a part 24
of the rules of each House, respectively, but ap-25
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plicable only with respect to the procedures to 1
be followed in that House in the case of dis-2
approval resolutions and such procedures super-3
sede other rules only to the extent that they are 4
inconsistent therewith; and 5
(B) with the full recognition of the con-6
stitutional right of either House to change the 7
rules (so far as relating to the procedure of that 8
House) at any time, in the same manner, and 9
to the same extent as any other rule of that 10
House. 11
(2) D
ISAPPROVAL RESOLUTION .—For purposes 12
of this section, the term ‘‘disapproval resolution’’ 13
means only a joint resolution of either House of 14
Congress the matter after the resolving clause of 15
which is as follows: ‘‘That the Congress disapproves 16
the action taken under section 3(b)(2) of the United 17
States Reciprocal Trade Act with respect to the im-18
position of a rate of duty on imports of ll from 19
ll under such section 3(b)(2).’’, the first blank 20
space being filled with a description of the good with 21
respect to which the duty is imposed under section 22
3(b)(2) and the second blank being filled with the 23
name of the foreign country from which the good is 24
imported into the United States. 25
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(3) CONSIDERATION.— 1
(A) I
NTRODUCTION.—All disapproval reso-2
lutions introduced in the House of Representa-3
tives shall be referred to the Committee on 4
Ways and Means and all disapproval resolutions 5
introduced in the Senate shall be referred to the 6
Committee on Finance. 7
(B) A
MENDMENTS PROHIBITED ; MOTIONS 8
TO SUSPEND APPLICATION OF THIS SUBPARA -9
GRAPH PROHIBITED.—No amendment to a dis-10
approval resolution shall be in order in either 11
the House of Representatives or the Senate, 12
and no motion to suspend the application of 13
this subparagraph shall be in order in either 14
House nor shall it be in order in either House 15
for the Presiding Officer to entertain a request 16
to suspend the application of this subparagraph 17
by unanimous consent. 18
(C) M
AJORITY REQUIRED FOR ADOP -19
TION.—A disapproval resolution considered 20
under this subsection shall require an affirma-21
tive vote of two-thirds of the Members, duly 22
chosen and sworn, for adoption. 23
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SEC. 6. REPORT. 1
Before entering into an agreement with a foreign 2
country under section 3(b)(1), the United States Trade 3
Representative shall submit to the appropriate congres-4
sional committees and leadership a report that describes— 5
(1) the implementation of the agreement, in-6
cluding how it is consistent with and does not mate-7
rially differ from or otherwise affect Federal or 8
State laws or regulations; 9
(2) the impact on the competitiveness of United 10
States businesses; and 11
(3) the impact on United States consumers. 12
SEC. 7. SUNSET OF PRESIDENTIAL IMPOSITION OF RATES 13
OF DUTY ON IMPORTS OF GOODS FROM FOR-14
EIGN COUNTRIES UNDER SECTION 3(b)(2) BY 15
DISAPPROVAL RESOLUTION. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The authority of the President to 17
take an action under section 3(b)(2) to impose a rate of 18
duty on imports of a good from a foreign country— 19
(1) shall be effective for the period ending on 20
the date that is three years after the date of the en-21
actment of this Act; and 22
(2) shall be extended for an additional period of 23
three years if (and only if)— 24
(A) the President requests such extension 25
under subsection (b); and 26
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(B) a disapproval resolution is not enacted 1
into law as provided for under subsection (c). 2
(b) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—If the President is of 3
the opinion that the authority of the President to take an 4
action under section 3(b)(2) to impose a rate of duty on 5
imports of a good from a foreign country should be ex-6
tended for the additional period described in subsection 7
(a)(2), the President shall submit to Congress, not later 8
than the date that is three months before the end of the 9
period described in subsection (a)(1), a written report that 10
contains a request for such extension, together with a de-11
scription of all actions taken under section 3(b)(2) to date. 12
(c) D
ISAPPROVALRESOLUTION.— 13
(1) C
ONGRESSIONAL RULEMAKING POWER .— 14
This section is enacted by the Congress— 15
(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 16
of the House of Representatives and the Sen-17
ate, respectively, and as such is deemed a part 18
of the rules of each House, respectively, but ap-19
plicable only with respect to the procedures to 20
be followed in that House in the case of dis-21
approval resolutions and such procedures super-22
sede other rules only to the extent that they are 23
inconsistent therewith; and 24
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(B) with the full recognition of the con-1
stitutional right of either House to change the 2
rules (so far as relating to the procedure of that 3
House) at any time, in the same manner, and 4
to the same extent as any other rule of that 5
House. 6
(2) D
ISAPPROVAL RESOLUTION .—For purposes 7
of subsection (a), the term ‘‘disapproval resolution’’ 8
means only a joint resolution of either House of 9
Congress the matter after the resolving clause of 10
which is as follows: ‘‘That the Congress disapproves 11
the request of the President for the extension, under 12
section 7(a)(2)(A) of the United States Reciprocal 13
Trade Act, of the authority of the President to take 14
an action under section 3(b)(2) of such Act to im-15
pose a rate of duty on imports of a good from a for-16
eign country after the period ending on the date that 17
is three years after the date of the enactment of 18
such Act.’’. 19
(3) I
NTRODUCTION; REFERRAL.—A disapproval 20
resolution— 21
(A) may be introduced in either House of 22
Congress by any member of such House; and 23
(B) shall be referred, in the House of Rep-24
resentatives, to the Committee on Ways and 25
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Means and, in addition, to the Committee on 1
Rules. 2
(4) F
LOOR CONSIDERATION .—The provisions of 3
subsections (d) and (e) of section 152 of the Trade 4
Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2192) (relating to the floor 5
consideration of certain resolutions in the House and 6
Senate) apply to a disapproval resolution. 7
(5) L
IMITATIONS ON CONSIDERATION .—It is 8
not in order for— 9
(A) the House of Representatives to con-10
sider any disapproval resolution not reported by 11
the Committee on Ways and Means and, in ad-12
dition, by the Committee on Rules; 13
(B) the Senate to consider any disapproval 14
resolution not reported by the Committee on Fi-15
nance; or 16
(C) either House of Congress to consider a 17
disapproval resolution after the date that is 18
three years after the date of the enactment of 19
this Act. 20
(d) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTION.— 21
(1) I
N GENERAL.—An action authorized under 22
section 3(b)(2) to impose a rate of duty on imports 23
of a good from a foreign country that is taken before 24
the end of the period described in subsection (a)(1) 25
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or the end of the period described in subsection 1
(a)(2) shall remain in effect after the end of such re-2
spective period. 3
(2) A
DDITIONAL AUTHORITIES .—The President 4
may exercise the authorities of subsections (e), (f), 5
and (g) of section 3 with respect to an action de-6
scribed in paragraph (1) after the end of the period 7
described in such paragraph that is applicable to 8
such action. 9
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 10
In this Act: 11
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -12
TEES AND LEADERSHIP .—The term ‘‘appropriate 13
congressional committees and leadership’’ means— 14
(A) the Committee on Ways and Means of 15
the House of Representatives and the Com-16
mittee on Finance of the Senate; and 17
(B) the Speaker of the House of Rep-18
resentatives, the minority leader of the House 19
of Representatives, the majority leader of the 20
Senate, and the minority leader of the Senate. 21
(2) N
ONTARIFF BARRIER.—The term ‘‘nontariff 22
barrier’’ includes any government-imposed measure 23
or policy, other than a customs duty, that restricts, 24
prevents, or impedes international trade in goods, in-25
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cluding import policies, sanitary and phytosanitary 1
measures, technical barriers to trade, government 2
procurement, export subsidies, lack of intellectual 3
property protection, digital trade barriers, and gov-4
ernment-tolerated anticompetitive conduct of state- 5
owned or private firms. 6
(3) R
ATE OF DUTY.—The term ‘‘rate of duty’’ 7
means the rate of customs duty applied on imports 8
of a good, but does not include an antidumping or 9
countervailing duty or a duty applied under a pref-10
erential tariff arrangement. 11
Æ
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