Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB776 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 776
5	5	To provide the President with authority to enter into a comprehensive trade
6	6	agreement with the United Kingdom, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY27, 2025
9	9	Mr. C
10	10	OONS(for himself and Mr. MORAN) introduced the following bill; which
11	11	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To provide the President with authority to enter into a
14	14	comprehensive trade agreement with the United King-
15	15	dom, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Undertaking Negotia-4
20	20	tions on Investment and Trade for Economic Dynamism 5
21	21	Act’’ or the ‘‘UNITED Act’’. 6
22	22	SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7
23	23	It is the sense of Congress that— 8
24	24	(1) the United States should pursue more open 9
25	25	trade and investment relationships with its allies to 10
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29	29	strengthen the economy of the United States, im-1
30	30	prove the standard of living of the people of the 2
31	31	United States, and advance the strategic interests of 3
32	32	the United States; 4
33	33	(2) agreements to reduce or eliminate barriers 5
34	34	to trade and investment between the United States 6
35	35	and its allies will foster mutually beneficial economic 7
36	36	relationships that advance the economic interests of 8
37	37	workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all 9
38	38	sizes in the United States; 10
39	39	(3) the shared values and long history of the 11
40	40	‘‘special relationship’’ between the United States and 12
41	41	the United Kingdom present a unique opportunity to 13
42	42	deepen the mutually beneficial economic and stra-14
43	43	tegic relationship between those countries and fur-15
44	44	ther expand prosperity for the citizens of those coun-16
45	45	tries; 17
46	46	(4) a high-standard, comprehensive trade agree-18
47	47	ment between the United States and the United 19
48	48	Kingdom would help strengthen that relationship, 20
49	49	improve the economic prospects of people in both 21
50	50	countries, increase the resilience of critical supply 22
51	51	chains, and create export opportunities for busi-23
52	52	nesses of all sizes; 24
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56	56	(5) the efforts of the United States-United 1
57	57	Kingdom Trade and Investment Working Group and 2
58	58	the bilateral negotiations initiated by President Don-3
59	59	ald J. Trump have laid groundwork toward a com-4
60	60	prehensive trade agreement; 5
61	61	(6) the United States-United Kingdom Dia-6
62	62	logue on the Future of Atlantic Trade, initiated by 7
63	63	President Joseph R. Biden, along with the signing 8
64	64	of the document entitled ‘‘Atlantic Declaration: A 9
65	65	Framework for a Twenty-First Century U.S.-U.K. 10
66	66	Economic Partnership’’, continued efforts to improve 11
67	67	economic cooperation between the United States and 12
68	68	United Kingdom; 13
69	69	(7) the robust labor and environmental protec-14
70	70	tions in the United Kingdom reduce the risk of regu-15
71	71	latory arbitrage that undercuts workers and busi-16
72	72	nesses in the United States; 17
73	73	(8) Congress passed the USMCA with over-18
74	74	whelming bipartisan support, setting high standards 19
75	75	in North America with respect to labor rights, the 20
76	76	environment, intellectual property, non-market prac-21
77	77	tices, and services, and those standards should in-22
78	78	form future negotiations; 23
79	79	(9) trade agreements with foreign trading part-24
80	80	ners that share the values and ambition of the 25
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84	84	United States offer an opportunity to build on the 1
85	85	USMCA and set high international standards across 2
86	86	many important policy areas; 3
87	87	(10) any trade negotiations between the United 4
88	88	States and the United Kingdom must honor the 5
89	89	agreement between the Government of Ireland and 6
90	90	the Government of the United Kingdom signed on 7
91	91	April 10, 1998 (commonly known as the ‘‘Good Fri-8
92	92	day Agreement’’), and any trade agreement between 9
93	93	those countries must advance peace, stability, and 10
94	94	prosperity in Ireland and Northern Ireland; 11
95	95	(11) the United Kingdom, like many key trad-12
96	96	ing partners of the United States, is actively negoti-13
97	97	ating for expanded access to foreign markets, and 14
98	98	the United States must likewise seek to advance its 15
99	99	access to foreign markets to ensure that businesses, 16
100	100	consumers, farmers, ranchers, and workers in the 17
101	101	United States are not left behind; and 18
102	102	(12) to effectively pursue comprehensive trade 19
103	103	negotiations with the United Kingdom for purposes 20
104	104	of a trade agreement between the United States and 21
105	105	the United Kingdom, Congress must grant new ne-22
106	106	gotiating authority to the President, which should— 23
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110	110	(A) enable the swift negotiation and pas-1
111	111	sage through Congress of such an agreement; 2
112	112	and 3
113	113	(B) be narrowly tailored to provide clear 4
114	114	direction to the executive branch of the United 5
115	115	States Government. 6
116	116	SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 7
117	117	In this Act: 8
118	118	(1) USMCA.—The term ‘‘USMCA’’ means the 9
119	119	Agreement between the United States of America, 10
120	120	the United Mexican States, and Canada, which is— 11
121	121	(A) attached as an Annex to the Protocol 12
122	122	Replacing the North American Free Trade 13
123	123	Agreement with the Agreement between the 14
124	124	United States of America, the United Mexican 15
125	125	States, and Canada, done at Buenos Aires on 16
126	126	November 30, 2018, as amended by the Pro-17
127	127	tocol of Amendment to the Agreement Between 18
128	128	the United States of America, the United Mexi-19
129	129	can States, and Canada, done at Mexico City 20
130	130	on December 10, 2019; and 21
131	131	(B) approved by Congress under section 22
132	132	101(a)(1) of the United States–Mexico–Canada 23
133	133	Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 24
134	134	4511(a)). 25
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138	138	(2) UNITED KINGDOM .—The term ‘‘United 1
139	139	Kingdom’’ means the United Kingdom of Great 2
140	140	Britain and Northern Ireland. 3
141	141	SEC. 4. NEGOTIATING AND TRADE AGREEMENTS AUTHOR-4
142	142	ITY FOR COMPREHENSIVE AGREEMENT WITH 5
143	143	THE UNITED KINGDOM. 6
144	144	(a) I
145	145	NITIATION OFNEGOTIATIONS.—Not later than 7
146	146	180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, in 8
147	147	order to enhance the economic well-being of the United 9
148	148	States, the President shall seek to initiate negotiations 10
149	149	with the United Kingdom regarding tariff and nontariff 11
150	150	barriers affecting any industry, product, or service sector. 12
151	151	(b) A
152	152	UTHORITY FOR COMPREHENSIVE TRADE 13
153	153	A
154	154	GREEMENTWITH THEUNITEDKINGDOM.— 14
155	155	(1) I
156	156	N GENERAL.—To strengthen the economic 15
157	157	competitiveness of the United States, the President 16
158	158	may enter into a comprehensive trade agreement 17
159	159	with the United Kingdom regarding tariff and non-18
160	160	tariff barriers affecting trade between the United 19
161	161	States and United Kingdom. 20
162	162	(2) T
163	163	ERMINATION OF AUTHORITY .—The au-21
164	164	thority under paragraph (1) terminates on March 1, 22
165	165	2029. 23
166	166	(c) M
167	167	ODIFICATIONSPERMITTED.— 24
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171	171	(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 1
172	172	the President may proclaim such modification or 2
173	173	continuance of any existing duty, continuance of ex-3
174	174	isting duty-free or excise treatment, or such addi-4
175	175	tional duties as the President determines to be re-5
176	176	quired or appropriate to carry out an agreement en-6
177	177	tered into under subsection (b). 7
178	178	(2) L
179	179	IMITATIONS.— 8
180	180	(A) M
181	181	ODIFICATIONS OR ADDITIONS TO 9
182	182	AGREEMENT.—Substantial modifications to, or 10
183	183	substantial additional provisions of, an agree-11
184	184	ment entered into after March 1, 2029, are not 12
185	185	covered by the authority under paragraph (1). 13
186	186	(B) A
187	187	MOUNT OF DUTY MODIFICATION .— 14
188	188	No proclamation may be made under paragraph 15
189	189	(1) that— 16
190	190	(i) reduces any rate of duty (other 17
191	191	than a rate of duty that does not exceed 5 18
192	192	percent ad valorem on the date of the en-19
193	193	actment of this Act) to a rate of duty that 20
194	194	is less than 50 percent of the rate of such 21
195	195	duty that applies on such date of enact-22
196	196	ment; 23
197	197	(ii) reduces the rate of duty below 24
198	198	that applicable under the Uruguay Round 25
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202	202	Agreements (as defined in section 2(7) of 1
203	203	the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 2
204	204	U.S.C. 3501)) or a successor agreement, 3
205	205	on any import sensitive agricultural prod-4
206	206	uct; or 5
207	207	(iii) increases any rate of duty above 6
208	208	the rate that applied on the date of the en-7
209	209	actment of this Act. 8
210	210	(d) C
211	211	ONSULTATION WITH ANDNOTIFICATION TO 9
212	212	C
213	213	ONGRESS.—To ensure the alignment of the trade policy 10
214	214	priorities of Congress with the content of any agreement 11
215	215	under this section, the President shall consult with Con-12
216	216	gress before and throughout negotiations initiated under 13
217	217	subsection (a) and shall notify Congress of the intention 14
218	218	of the President to enter into an agreement under sub-15
219	219	section (b) or to make a proclamation under subsection 16
220	220	(c). 17
221	221	(e) B
222	222	ILLSQUALIFYING FOR TRADEAUTHORITIES 18
223	223	P
224	224	ROCEDURES.— 19
225	225	(1) I
226	226	MPLEMENTING BILLS.— 20
227	227	(A) I
228	228	N GENERAL.—The provisions of sec-21
229	229	tion 151 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 22
230	230	2191) apply to a bill of either House of Con-23
231	231	gress that contains provisions described in sub-24
232	232	paragraph (B) to the same extent as such sec-25
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236	236	tion 151 applies to implementing bills under 1
237	237	that section. A bill to which this paragraph ap-2
238	238	plies shall hereafter in this section be referred 3
239	239	to as an ‘‘implementing bill’’. 4
240	240	(B) P
241	241	ROVISIONS SPECIFIED.—The provi-5
242	242	sions described in this subparagraph are— 6
243	243	(i) a provision approving a trade 7
244	244	agreement entered into under this section 8
245	245	and approving the statement of adminis-9
246	246	trative action, if any, proposed to imple-10
247	247	ment such trade agreement; and 11
248	248	(ii) if changes in existing laws or new 12
249	249	statutory authority are required to imple-13
250	250	ment such trade agreement, only such pro-14
251	251	visions as are strictly necessary or appro-15
252	252	priate to implement such trade agreement, 16
253	253	either repealing or amending existing laws 17
254	254	or providing new statutory authority. 18
255	255	(2) D
256	256	EADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BILL .—The 19
257	257	procedures under paragraph (1) apply to imple-20
258	258	menting bills submitted with respect to a trade 21
259	259	agreement entered into under this section before 22
260	260	March 1, 2029. 23
261	261	(f) L
262	262	IMITATION ONWAIVER, SUSPENSION, ORTER-24
263	263	MINATION.—An agreement entered into under this section 25
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267	267	shall not be waived, suspended, or terminated, in whole 1
268	268	or in part, with respect to the United States without the 2
269	269	express approval by Congress of such termination. 3
270	270	(g) R
271	271	ELATIONSHIP TOBIPARTISANCONGRESSIONAL 4
272	272	T
273	273	RADEPRIORITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 5
274	274	2015.—An agreement under this section shall not enter 6
275	275	into force with respect to the United States and an imple-7
276	276	menting bill shall not qualify for trade authorities proce-8
277	277	dures under subsection (e), including an agreement that 9
278	278	does not require changes to United States law or an imple-10
279	279	menting bill in connection therewith, unless the following 11
280	280	requirements under the Bipartisan Congressional Trade 12
281	281	Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201 13
282	282	et seq.) are carried out with respect to that agreement 14
283	283	or implementing bill to the same extent as would be re-15
284	284	quired of an agreement entered into under section 103(b) 16
285	285	of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4202(b)), notwithstanding the expi-17
286	286	ration of authority to enter into an agreement under such 18
287	287	section 103(b): 19
288	288	(1) The trade negotiating objectives under sec-20
289	289	tion 102 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4201). 21
290	290	(2) The congressional oversight and consulta-22
291	291	tion requirements under section 104 of that Act (19 23
292	292	U.S.C. 4203). 24
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296	296	(3) The notification, consultation, and reporting 1
297	297	requirements under section 105 of that Act (19 2
298	298	U.S.C. 4204). 3
299	299	(4) The implementation procedures under sec-4
300	300	tion 106 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4205). 5
301	301	(5) The provisions related to sovereignty under 6
302	302	section 108 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4207). 7
303	303	Æ
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