| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 953 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To advance United States long-term trade competitiveness and economic |
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| 6 | 6 | | leadership in the Indo-Pacific region. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | FEBRUARY4, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mrs. M |
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| 10 | 10 | | ILLERof West Virginia (for herself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. SMITHof Ne- |
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| 11 | 11 | | braska, Mr. B |
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| 12 | 12 | | ERA, Mr. LAHOOD, and Mr. BEYER) introduced the fol- |
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| 13 | 13 | | lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To advance United States long-term trade competitiveness |
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| 16 | 16 | | and economic leadership in the Indo-Pacific region. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Trade 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Leadership in the Indo-Pacific Act’’. 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Congress finds the following: 7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | (1) The United States is an Indo-Pacific power. 8 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (2) The Indo-Pacific region, spanning from our 9 |
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| 26 | 26 | | Pacific Coastline to the Indian Ocean, is home to 10 |
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| 30 | 30 | | over half the world’s people, including nearly 60 per-1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | cent of youth, and is at the center of the 21st-cen-2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | tury global economy, accounting for 60 percent of 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | global gross domestic product and two-thirds of the 4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | world’s economic growth in 2022. 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (3) The Indo-Pacific region also includes some 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | of America’s closest military allies and partners, sev-7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | eral of the world’s largest militaries, and 5 nations 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | allied with the United States through mutual de-9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | fense treaties. The region also contains strategic ri-10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | vals with growing military capabilities, in particular 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Our partners 12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | are critical for responding to potential threats in the 13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | region, maintaining credible deterrence, and for fos-14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | tering peace. 15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (4) There is broad bipartisan agreement that 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | the United States must have a strong and durable 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | economic strategy in the Indo-Pacific to advance our 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | commercial, geostrategic, and national security inter-19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ests and support our allies and partners in the re-20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | gion. 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (5) This is especially true and increasingly ur-22 |
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| 52 | 52 | | gent in the face of heightened aggression and pres-23 |
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| 53 | 53 | | sure from the PRC, which seeks to expand its influ-24 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ence by actively pursuing trade agreements with key 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 953 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | partners in the Indo-Pacific that establish pref-1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | erential treatment for goods and services, deepen 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | supply chain integration, and establish rules based 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | on the PRC’s state-led authoritarian economic model 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | that undercut America’s workers, businesses, and 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | economic security. 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (6) For decades, the United States has sought 7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | to persuade the PRC to eliminate harmful trade 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | practices and act responsibly within the global rules- 9 |
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| 67 | 67 | | based trading system. Unfortunately, the PRC has 10 |
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| 68 | 68 | | not substantially changed its behavior and has in-11 |
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| 69 | 69 | | stead used forced labor, subsidies and overproduc-12 |
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| 70 | 70 | | tion, intellectual property theft and the forced trans-13 |
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| 71 | 71 | | fer of technology, authoritarian digital governance 14 |
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| 72 | 72 | | policies, economic coercion, and other unfair prac-15 |
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| 73 | 73 | | tices to advance an economic model that undermines 16 |
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| 74 | 74 | | human rights, American industries and workers, and 17 |
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| 75 | 75 | | market-based economies around the world. 18 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (7) The PRC is now actively seeking to increase 19 |
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| 77 | 77 | | trade ties in the Indo-Pacific region as a means to 20 |
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| 78 | 78 | | increase its economic influence and increase supply 21 |
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| 79 | 79 | | chain dependency on the PRC. One of the most 22 |
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| 80 | 80 | | prominent examples of the PRC’s growing economic 23 |
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| 81 | 81 | | influence in the Indo-Pacific region is the Regional 24 |
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| 82 | 82 | | Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), 25 |
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| 86 | 86 | | which entered into force in January 2022. RCEP is 1 |
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| 87 | 87 | | now the largest trade agreement in the world, en-2 |
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| 88 | 88 | | compassing 15 countries that account for 30 percent 3 |
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| 89 | 89 | | of the global economy. This agreement will increas-4 |
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| 90 | 90 | | ingly put the United States at a competitive dis-5 |
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| 91 | 91 | | advantage as the economies of the PRC, Australia, 6 |
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| 92 | 92 | | Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, 7 |
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| 93 | 93 | | Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, 8 |
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| 94 | 94 | | Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam grow more inte-9 |
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| 95 | 95 | | grated. 10 |
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| 96 | 96 | | (8) The PRC is also actively negotiating numer-11 |
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| 97 | 97 | | ous other regional and bilateral trade agreements 12 |
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| 98 | 98 | | throughout the region and is attempting to accede to 13 |
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| 99 | 99 | | the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for 14 |
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| 100 | 100 | | Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as well as the 15 |
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| 101 | 101 | | Digital Economic Partnership Agreement (DEPA). 16 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (9) The PRC’s aggressive assertion of its eco-17 |
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| 103 | 103 | | nomic interests in the Indo-Pacific through the use 18 |
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| 104 | 104 | | of trade agreements underscores the need for the 19 |
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| 105 | 105 | | United States to provide a meaningful and credible 20 |
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| 106 | 106 | | alternative to achieve our economic and national se-21 |
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| 107 | 107 | | curity goals. 22 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (10) American workers and businesses also face 23 |
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| 109 | 109 | | competitive pressures as other countries in the re-24 |
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| 110 | 110 | | gion pursue regional rules and preferential trade 25 |
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| 113 | 113 | | •HR 953 IH |
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| 114 | 114 | | agreements without the participation of the United 1 |
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| 115 | 115 | | States. There are now more than 200 preferential 2 |
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| 116 | 116 | | trade agreements in force with at least one party 3 |
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| 117 | 117 | | from the region and over 100 more are under nego-4 |
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| 118 | 118 | | tiation or pending ratification. 5 |
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| 119 | 119 | | (11) To inform future policymaking, Congress 6 |
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| 120 | 120 | | should work with the administration in a bipartisan 7 |
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| 121 | 121 | | manner to examine current United States economic 8 |
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| 122 | 122 | | policy toward the Indo-Pacific, the impacts of re-9 |
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| 123 | 123 | | gional trade agreements on American competitive-10 |
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| 124 | 124 | | ness, and policies to advance United States objec-11 |
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| 125 | 125 | | tives in the region. 12 |
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| 126 | 126 | | (12) Through a more comprehensive trade and 13 |
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| 127 | 127 | | economic strategy toward the Indo-Pacific region, 14 |
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| 128 | 128 | | the United States could exert greater leverage to im-15 |
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| 129 | 129 | | prove labor rights and help level the playing field for 16 |
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| 130 | 130 | | American workers, enhance environmental stand-17 |
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| 131 | 131 | | ards, counter non-market economies and 18 |
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| 132 | 132 | | authoritarianism, construct more resilient supply 19 |
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| 133 | 133 | | chains, better meet the needs of our allies and part-20 |
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| 134 | 134 | | ners, and grow our economy by addressing barriers 21 |
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| 135 | 135 | | to trade for American products. 22 |
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| 138 | 138 | | •HR 953 IH |
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| 139 | 139 | | SEC. 3. INVESTIGATION OF IMPACT OF INDO-PACIFIC RE-1 |
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| 140 | 140 | | GIONAL AGREEMENTS ON UNITED STATES 2 |
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| 141 | 141 | | COMPETITIVENESS. 3 |
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| 142 | 142 | | Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-4 |
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| 143 | 143 | | ment of this Act, the United States International Trade 5 |
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| 144 | 144 | | Commission shall conduct and conclude an investigation 6 |
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| 145 | 145 | | to examine— 7 |
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| 146 | 146 | | (1) how preferential market access provisions, 8 |
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| 147 | 147 | | including tariffs, quotas, and services commitments, 9 |
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| 148 | 148 | | in existing Indo-Pacific regional trade agreements, 10 |
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| 149 | 149 | | including the Regional Comprehensive Economic 11 |
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| 150 | 150 | | Partnership (RCEP) Agreement and the Com-12 |
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| 151 | 151 | | prehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pa-13 |
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| 152 | 152 | | cific Partnership (CPTPP), affect United States ex-14 |
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| 153 | 153 | | ports and growth opportunities in the Indo-Pacific 15 |
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| 154 | 154 | | region; 16 |
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| 155 | 155 | | (2) how existing non-tariff barriers, including 17 |
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| 156 | 156 | | regulatory practices, relatively lower labor and envi-18 |
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| 157 | 157 | | ronmental standards, different rules for sectors 19 |
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| 158 | 158 | | ranging from agriculture and the digital economy, 20 |
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| 159 | 159 | | and standard-setting in these areas as part of exist-21 |
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| 160 | 160 | | ing Indo-Pacific regional and bilateral trade agree-22 |
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| 161 | 161 | | ments, impact the competitiveness of American 23 |
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| 162 | 162 | | workers and businesses; 24 |
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| 163 | 163 | | (3) the impact of existing Indo-Pacific regional 25 |
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| 164 | 164 | | trade agreements on United States supply chain re-26 |
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| 168 | 168 | | siliency and connectivity, and in particular its im-1 |
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| 169 | 169 | | pact on the People’s Republic of China’s role in key 2 |
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| 170 | 170 | | global supply chains; and 3 |
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| 171 | 171 | | (4) differences between the United States-Mex-4 |
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| 172 | 172 | | ico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and CPTPP, 5 |
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| 173 | 173 | | RCEP, or other regional trade agreements in the 6 |
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| 174 | 174 | | Indo-Pacific that would likely have a substantial im-7 |
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| 175 | 175 | | pact on United States businesses and workers. 8 |
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| 176 | 176 | | SEC. 4. INDO-PACIFIC TRADE STRATEGY COMMISSION. 9 |
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| 177 | 177 | | (a) E |
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| 178 | 178 | | STABLISHMENT.— 10 |
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| 179 | 179 | | (1) I |
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| 180 | 180 | | N GENERAL.—There is hereby established 11 |
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| 181 | 181 | | an independent commission to be known as the 12 |
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| 182 | 182 | | ‘‘Indo-Pacific Trade Strategy Commission’’ (in this 13 |
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| 183 | 183 | | section referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’), to develop 14 |
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| 184 | 184 | | findings and recommendations for a comprehensive 15 |
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| 185 | 185 | | trade strategy for the Indo-Pacific region for pur-16 |
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| 186 | 186 | | poses of— 17 |
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| 187 | 187 | | (A) ensuring sustained United States eco-18 |
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| 188 | 188 | | nomic and geopolitical leadership in the Indo- 19 |
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| 189 | 189 | | Pacific region; 20 |
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| 190 | 190 | | (B) promoting United States innovation, 21 |
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| 191 | 191 | | exports, and economic opportunities for workers 22 |
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| 192 | 192 | | and businesses; 23 |
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| 193 | 193 | | (C) countering the People’s Republic of 24 |
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| 194 | 194 | | China’s aggressive trade agenda; 25 |
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| 198 | 198 | | (D) promoting United States values, 1 |
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| 199 | 199 | | norms, and standards; 2 |
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| 200 | 200 | | (E) strengthening the United States econ-3 |
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| 201 | 201 | | omy; 4 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (F) bolstering United States economic and 5 |
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| 203 | 203 | | national security, including by addressing the 6 |
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| 204 | 204 | | vulnerabilities identified in the G7 Leaders’ 7 |
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| 205 | 205 | | Statement on Economic Resilience and Eco-8 |
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| 206 | 206 | | nomic Security of May 20, 2023; and 9 |
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| 207 | 207 | | (G) promoting United States supply chain 10 |
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| 208 | 208 | | resilience. 11 |
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| 209 | 209 | | (2) E |
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| 210 | 210 | | FFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 12 |
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| 211 | 211 | | take effect on the date that is 30 days after the date 13 |
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| 212 | 212 | | of the enactment of this Act. 14 |
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| 213 | 213 | | (b) M |
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| 214 | 214 | | EMBERSHIP.— 15 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (1) N |
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| 216 | 216 | | UMBER AND APPOINTMENT .—The Com-16 |
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| 217 | 217 | | mission shall be composed of 12 members appointed 17 |
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| 218 | 218 | | as follows: 18 |
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| 219 | 219 | | (A) 6 members appointed by mutual agree-19 |
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| 220 | 220 | | ment of the Chair of the Committee on Ways 20 |
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| 221 | 221 | | and Means of the House of Representatives and 21 |
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| 222 | 222 | | the Ranking Member of the Committee on Fi-22 |
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| 223 | 223 | | nance of the Senate. 23 |
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| 224 | 224 | | (B) 6 members appointed by mutual agree-24 |
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| 225 | 225 | | ment of the Chair of the Committee on Finance 25 |
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| 229 | 229 | | of the Senate and the Ranking Member of the 1 |
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| 230 | 230 | | Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 2 |
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| 231 | 231 | | Representatives. 3 |
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| 232 | 232 | | (C) None of the appointed members shall 4 |
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| 233 | 233 | | be a Member of the House of Representatives 5 |
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| 234 | 234 | | or a Member of the Senate. 6 |
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| 235 | 235 | | (2) Q |
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| 236 | 236 | | UALIFICATIONS.—The members of the 7 |
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| 237 | 237 | | Commission shall be individuals who have well-docu-8 |
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| 238 | 238 | | mented expertise, knowledge, or experience in the 9 |
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| 239 | 239 | | Indo-Pacific region, and— 10 |
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| 240 | 240 | | (A) international trade; 11 |
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| 241 | 241 | | (B) economic and supply chain issues; 12 |
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| 242 | 242 | | (C) labor matters; or 13 |
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| 243 | 243 | | (D) environmental policy. 14 |
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| 244 | 244 | | (3) M |
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| 245 | 245 | | EETINGS.—The Commission shall— 15 |
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| 246 | 246 | | (A) hold public hearings and meetings; 16 |
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| 247 | 247 | | (B) hold classified hearings or meetings, if 17 |
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| 248 | 248 | | necessary to discuss classified material or infor-18 |
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| 249 | 249 | | mation; 19 |
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| 250 | 250 | | (C) provide an opportunity for public com-20 |
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| 251 | 251 | | ment, including sharing of research and policy 21 |
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| 252 | 252 | | analysis, through publication of a solicitation 22 |
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| 253 | 253 | | for public comments during a period of not less 23 |
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| 254 | 254 | | than 45 days; 24 |
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| 258 | 258 | | (D) consult quarterly with Congress, spe-1 |
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| 259 | 259 | | cifically with members of the Committee on 2 |
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| 260 | 260 | | Ways and Means of the House of Representa-3 |
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| 261 | 261 | | tives and members of the Committee on Fi-4 |
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| 262 | 262 | | nance of the Senate; and 5 |
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| 263 | 263 | | (E) submit, not later than 18 months after 6 |
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| 264 | 264 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, a final 7 |
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| 265 | 265 | | report to Congress, specifically to the members 8 |
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| 266 | 266 | | of the Committee on Ways and Means of the 9 |
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| 267 | 267 | | House of Representatives and members of the 10 |
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| 268 | 268 | | Committee on Finance of the Senate. 11 |
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| 269 | 269 | | Æ |
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