II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4450 

To provide the President with authority to enter into a comprehensive trade 

agreement with the United Kingdom, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 22, 2022 

Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide the President with authority to enter into a 

comprehensive trade agreement with the United Kingdom, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Privileged 

5 Economic, Commercial, Investment, And Legal Rights to 

6 Ensure Longstanding Atlantic Trade and Investment Op7 portunities and Nurture Security, Happiness, Innovation, 

8 and Prosperity Act’’ or the ‘‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP 

9 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) more open trade and investment relation4 ships with allies of the United States serve to 

5 strengthen the economy of the United States, im6 prove the well-being of the people of the United 

7 States, and advance the strategic interests of the 

8 United States; 

9 (2) agreements to reduce or eliminate barriers 

10 to trade and investment between the United States 

11 and its allies will foster mutually beneficial economic 

12 relationships that advance the economic interests of 

13 workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all 

14 sizes in the United States; 

15 (3) the shared values and long history of the 

16 ‘‘special relationship’’ between the United States and 

17 the United Kingdom present an opportunity to deep18 en the mutually beneficial economic relationship be19 tween those countries and further expand prosperity 

20 for the citizens of those countries; 

21 (4) a high-standard, comprehensive trade agree22 ment between the United States and the United 

23 Kingdom would help achieve those aims and be in 

24 the national interest of the United States; 

25 (5) the efforts of the United States–United 

26 Kingdom Trade and Investment Working Group and 


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1 the bilateral negotiations initiated by President Don2 ald Trump have laid groundwork toward a com3 prehensive trade agreement; 

4 (6) The United States–United Kingdom Dia5 logue on the Future of Atlantic Trade initiated by 

6 President Joe Biden continues longstanding efforts 

7 to improve economic cooperation between the United 

8 States and the United Kingdom; 

9 (7) the robust labor and environmental protec10 tions in the United Kingdom reduce the risk of regu11 latory arbitrage that undercuts workers and busi12 nesses in the United States; 

13 (8) the USMCA, which was passed with over14 whelming bipartisan support, set high standards in 

15 North America with respect to labor rights, the envi16 ronment, intellectual property, non-market practices, 

17 and services, and those standards should inform fu18 ture negotiations; 

19 (9) trade agreements with foreign trading part20 ners that share the values and ambition of the 

21 United States offer an opportunity to build on the 

22 USMCA and set high international standards across 

23 many important policy areas; 

24 (10) any trade agreement between the United 

25 States and the United Kingdom must uphold the 


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1 agreement between the Government of Ireland and 

2 the Government of the United Kingdom signed on 

3 April 10, 1998 (commonly known as the ‘‘Good Fri4 day Agreement’’), and support continued peace and 

5 stability in Ireland and Northern Ireland; and 

6 (11) to effectively pursue comprehensive trade 

7 negotiations with the United Kingdom for purposes 

8 of a trade agreement between the United States and 

9 the United Kingdom, Congress must grant new ne10 gotiating authority to the President, which should— 

11 (A) enable the swift negotiation and pas12 sage through Congress of such an agreement; 

13 and 

14 (B) be narrowly tailored to provide clear 

15 direction to the executive branch of the United 

16 States Government. 

17 (b) USMCA DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

18 ‘‘USMCA’’ means the Agreement between the United 

19 States of America, the United Mexican States, and Can20 ada, which is— 

21 (1) attached as an Annex to the Protocol Re22 placing the North American Free Trade Agreement 

23 with the Agreement between the United States of 

24 America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, 

25 done at Buenos Aires on November 30, 2018, as 


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1 amended by the Protocol of Amendment to the 

2 Agreement Between the United States of America, 

3 the United Mexican States, and Canada, done at 

4 Mexico City on December 10, 2019; and 

5 (2) approved by Congress under section 

6 101(a)(1) of the United States–Mexico–Canada 

7 Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4511(a)). 

8 SEC. 3. NEGOTIATING AND TRADE AGREEMENTS AUTHOR9 ITY FOR COMPREHENSIVE AGREEMENT WITH 

10 THE UNITED KINGDOM. 

11 (a) INITIATION OF NEGOTIATIONS.—In order to en12 hance the economic well-being of the United States, the 

13 President shall initiate negotiations with the United King14 dom regarding tariff and nontariff barriers affecting any 

15 industry, product, or service sector. 

16 (b) AUTHORITY FOR AGREEMENT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—To strengthen the economic 

18 competitiveness of the United States, the President 

19 may enter into a comprehensive trade agreement 

20 with the United Kingdom regarding tariff and non21 tariff barriers affecting any industry, product, or 

22 service sector. 

23 (2) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The au24 thority under paragraph (1) terminates on July 1, 

25 2027. 


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1 (c) MODIFICATIONS PERMITTED.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

3 the President may proclaim such modification or 

4 continuance of any existing duty, continuance of ex5 isting duty-free or excise treatment, or such addi6 tional duties as the President determines to be re7 quired or appropriate to carry out an agreement en8 tered into under subsection (b). 

9 (2) LIMITATIONS.— 

10 (A) MODIFICATIONS OR ADDITIONS TO

11 AGREEMENT.—Substantial modifications to, or 

12 substantial additional provisions of, an agree13 ment entered into after July 1, 2027, are not 

14 covered by the authority under paragraph (1). 

15 (B) AMOUNT OF DUTY MODIFICATION.— 

16 No proclamation may be made under paragraph 

17 (1) that— 

18 (i) reduces any rate of duty (other 

19 than a rate of duty that does not exceed 5 

20 percent ad valorem on the date of the en21 actment of this Act) to a rate of duty that 

22 is less than 50 percent of the rate of such 

23 duty that applies on such date of enact24 ment; 


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1 (ii) reduces the rate of duty below 

2 that applicable under the Uruguay Round 

3 Agreements (as defined in section 2(7) of 

4 the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 

5 U.S.C. 3501)) or a successor agreement, 

6 on any import sensitive agricultural prod7 uct; or 

8 (iii) increases any rate of duty above 

9 the rate that applied on the date of the en10 actment of this Act. 

11 (d) CONSULTATION WITH AND NOTIFICATION TO

12 CONGRESS.—The President shall consult with Congress 

13 regarding, and notify Congress of, the intention of the 

14 President to enter into an agreement under subsection (b) 

15 or to make a proclamation under subsection (c). 

16 (e) BILLS QUALIFYING FOR TRADE AUTHORITIES

17 PROCEDURES.— 

18 (1) IMPLEMENTING BILLS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of sec20 tion 151 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

21 2191) apply to a bill of either House of Con22 gress that contains provisions described in sub23 paragraph (B) to the same extent as such sec24 tion 151 applies to implementing bills under 

25 that section. A bill to which this paragraph apVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:16 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4450.IS S4450

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1 plies shall hereafter in this section be referred 

2 to as an ‘‘implementing bill’’. 

3 (B) PROVISIONS SPECIFIED.—The provi4 sions described in this subparagraph are— 

5 (i) a provision approving a trade 

6 agreement entered into under this section 

7 and approving the statement of adminis8 trative action, if any, proposed to imple9 ment such trade agreement; and 

10 (ii) if changes in existing laws or new 

11 statutory authority are required to imple12 ment such trade agreement, only such pro13 visions as are strictly necessary or appro14 priate to implement such trade agreement, 

15 either repealing or amending existing laws 

16 or providing new statutory authority. 

17 (2) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BILL.—The 

18 procedures under paragraph (1) apply to imple19 menting bills submitted with respect to a trade 

20 agreement entered into under this section before 

21 July 1, 2027. 

22 (f) LIMITATION ON TERMINATION.—An agreement 

23 entered into under this section shall not terminate with 

24 respect to the United States without the express approval 

25 by Congress of such termination. 


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1 (g) RELATIONSHIP TO BIPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL

2 TRADE PRIORITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF

3 2015.—An agreement under this section shall not enter 

4 into force with respect to the United States and an imple5 menting bill shall not qualify for trade authorities proce6 dures under subsection (e), including an agreement that 

7 does not require changes to United States law or an imple8 menting bill in connection therewith, unless the following 

9 requirements under the Bipartisan Congressional Trade 

10 Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201 

11 et seq.) are carried out with respect to that agreement 

12 or implementing bill to the same extent as would be re13 quired of an agreement entered into under section 103(b) 

14 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4202(b)), notwithstanding the expi15 ration of authority to enter into an agreement under such 

16 section 103(b): 

17 (1) The trade negotiating objectives under sec18 tion 102 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4201). 

19 (2) The congressional oversight and consulta20 tion requirements under section 104 of that Act (19 

21 U.S.C. 4203). 

22 (3) The notification, consultation, and reporting 

23 requirements under section 105 of that Act (19 

24 U.S.C. 4204). 


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1 (4) The implementation procedures under sec2 tion 106 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4205). 

3 (5) The provisions related to sovereignty under 

4 section 108 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4207). 

Æ 


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