II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3878 

To establish a regional trade, investment, and people-to-people partnership 

of countries in the Western Hemisphere to stimulate growth and integration through viable long-term private sector development, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 6, 2024 

Mr. CASSIDY (for himself and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To establish a regional trade, investment, and people-topeople partnership of countries in the Western Hemisphere to stimulate growth and integration through viable long-term private sector development, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Americas Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 


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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

TITLE I—E-GOVERNANCE IN THE AMERICAS 

Sec. 101. Americas Institute for Digital Governance. 

Sec. 102. E-governance framework. 

Sec. 103. Additional duties of Institute. 

Sec. 104. Funding. 

TITLE II—TRADE AND INVESTMENT FOR THE AMERICAS 

Subtitle A—Administration 

Sec. 201. Partnership agreements. 

Sec. 202. Americas Partnership business advisory board. 

Sec. 203. Administration. 

Sec. 204. Americas Partnership Secretariat. 

Sec. 205. Report. 

Subtitle B—Trade 

CHAPTER 1—RE-SHORING AND NEAR-SHORING

Sec. 211. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 212. Incentives for re-shoring and near-shoring of businesses from People’s Republic of China. 

Sec. 213. Tax credit for qualifying re-shoring and near-shoring expenses. 

CHAPTER 2—FREE TRADE EXPANSION

Sec. 221. Tariff reciprocity under GATT 1994. 

Sec. 222. Expansion of USMCA or establishment of other regional trade agreement. 

Sec. 223. Americas Partnership Threshold Program. 

Sec. 224. Expansion of beneficiaries under United States-Caribbean Basin 

Trade Partnership Act. 

Sec. 225. Exclusion of certain countries from certain preferential trade treatment. 

Sec. 226. Extension of trade promotion authority to Americas partner countries 

for purposes of expansion of USMCA. 

CHAPTER 3—TEXTILE AND APPAREL

Sec. 231. Textile and apparel grant program. 

Sec. 232. Textile reuse and recycling programs. 

Sec. 233. Textile production verification teams. 

Sec. 234. Tax benefits for apparel and home textile products. 

Sec. 235. Treatment of fibers, fabrics, and yarns not available in commercial 

quantities in Americas partner countries. 

CHAPTER 4—TRADE ENFORCEMENT

Sec. 241. Establishment of special enforcement unit of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to monitor the implementation of Uyghur 

Forced Labor Prevention Act. 

Sec. 242. Authorization of payments to whistleblowers relating to money laundering or illicit financial transactions. 


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Sec. 243. Establishment of borders and ports protection program. 

Sec. 244. Establishment of mutual recognition agreements and trade transparency units. 

Subtitle C—Investment 

Sec. 251. Sense of Congress. 

Sec. 252. BUILD Americas Unit. 

Sec. 253. Americas Partnership Enterprise Fund. 

Sec. 254. Near-shoring of strategic supply chains and transformational energy 

investments. 

Subtitle D—People-to-People Activities 

Sec. 261. Humanitarian and business development assistance. 

Sec. 262. Department of State. 

Sec. 263. Peace Corps. 

Sec. 264. American University of the Americas. 

Sec. 265. United States Agency for International Development Caribbean and 

Latin American Scholarship Program III. 

Sec. 266. Concern for Advanced Retired and Elderly nonimmigrant visa program for aliens who provide direct care for elderly populations. 

Sec. 267. Sense of Congress on TN visa program. 

Sec. 268. Assessment of visa waiver program eligibility for Uruguay and Costa 

Rica. 

Sec. 269. Radio Free Americas. 

Sec. 270. Biennial presidential summit. 

TITLE III—REVENUE AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 

Sec. 301. Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account. 

Sec. 302. Modification of treatment of de minimis entries of articles. 

TITLE IV—REPORTING AND BRANDING 

Sec. 401. Annual report on Americas program. 

Sec. 402. Branding and marketing for Americas program. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) AMERICAS PARTNER COUNTRY.—The term 

4 ‘‘Americas partner country’’ means a county that 

5 has entered into a partnership agreement under sec6 tion 201. 

7 (2) AMERICAS PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Americas 

8 program’’ means the provision of assistance to and 


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1 other activities relating to Americas partner coun2 tries under title II or amendments made by title II. 

3 (3) BUILD AMERICAS UNIT.—The term 

4 ‘‘BUILD Americas Unit’’ means the unit of the 

5 United States International Development Finance 

6 Corporation established under section 1416 of the 

7 BUILD Act of 2018, as added by section 252. 

8 (4) NEAR-SHORE.—The term ‘‘near-shore’’— 

9 (A) with respect to an entity, means to 

move not less than the equivalent of 2 10 ⁄3 of the 

11 operations of the entity from the People’s Re12 public of China to one or more Americas part13 ner countries or other countries as provided for 

14 under title II; and 

15 (B) with respect to a good or service, 

16 means to move not less than the equivalent of 

2 17 ⁄3 of the production of the good or service from 

18 the People’s Republic of China to such coun19 tries. 

20 (5) RE-SHORE.—The term ‘‘re-shore’’— 

21 (A) with respect to an entity, means to 

move not less than the equivalent of 2 22 ⁄3 of the 

23 operations of the entity from the People’s Re24 public of China to the United States; and 


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1 (B) with respect to a good or service, 

2 means to move not less than the equivalent of 

2 3 ⁄3 of the production of the good or service from 

4 the People’s Republic of China to the United 

5 States. 

6 (6) UNITED STATES BUSINESS.—The term 

7 ‘‘United States business’’ means an entity— 

8 (A) organized under the laws of the United 

9 States or any jurisdiction within the United 

10 States; 

11 (B) with its headquarters based in the 

12 United States (as determined on the date that 

13 is 180 days after the date of the enactment of 

14 this Act); and 

15 (C) with more than 25 percent of its busi16 ness inside the United States. 

17 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘United 

19 States person’’ means— 

20 (i) an individual who is a citizen or 

21 resident of the United States; or 

22 (ii) an entity organized under the laws 

23 of the United States or any jurisdiction 

24 within the United States. 


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1 (B) RESIDENT.—For purposes of subpara2 graph (A)(i), an individual is a resident of the 

3 United States if the individual is authorized to 

4 be employed in the United States. 

5 (8) USMCA.—The term ‘‘USMCA’’ has the 

6 meaning given that term in section 3 of the United 

7 States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation 

8 Act (19 U.S.C. 4502). 

9 (9) USMCA COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘USMCA 

10 country’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

11 202(a) of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agree12 ment Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 4531(a)). 

13 TITLE I—E-GOVERNANCE IN THE 

14 AMERICAS 

15 SEC. 101. AMERICAS INSTITUTE FOR DIGITAL GOVERN16 ANCE. 

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a non18 profit organization within the United States to be known 

19 as the ‘‘Americas Institute for Digital Governance’’ (in 

20 this title referred as the ‘‘Institute’’), which shall be re21 sponsible for the development and maintenance of the e22 governance framework established under section 102. 

23 (b) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Insti2 tute a Board of Directors (in this section referred to 

3 as the ‘‘Board’’). 

4 (2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The President shall re6 quest the head of government of each Americas 

7 partner country to appoint one member of the 

8 Board. 

9 (B) APPOINTMENT PROCESS.— 

10 (i) UNITED STATES.—The President 

11 shall appoint the member of the Board 

12 representing the United States. 

13 (ii) OTHER COUNTRIES.—The Presi14 dent shall request the head of government 

15 of each Americas partner country to deter16 mine a process for appointing the member 

17 of the Board to represent that country. 

18 (C) TERMS.—A member of the Board shall 

19 serve on the Board for not more than 4 years. 

20 (D) REMOVAL.— 

21 (i) REMOVAL BY COUNTRY REP22 RESENTED.—A member of the Board shall 

23 serve at the discretion of the Americas 

24 partner country the member represents 

25 and may be removed pursuant to a process 


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1 determined by the government of that 

2 country. 

3 (ii) REMOVAL BY BOARD.—A member 

4 of the Board may be removed by a vote of 

2 5 ⁄3 of the members of the Board. 

6 (E) VACANCIES.—In the event that a 

7 member of the Board is removed under sub8 paragraph (D) or dies or is otherwise deemed 

9 unable to serve the remainder of the term of 

10 the member, the government of the Americas 

11 partner country the member represented shall 

12 appoint an individual to serve out the remain13 der of that term pursuant to a process deter14 mined by that government. 

15 (F) ETHICS REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 (i) FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE.—A mem17 ber of the Board shall fully disclose the fi18 nancial assets of the member and divest 

19 from any holdings, such as stocks or other 

20 equities, that relate to any private entity 

21 that conducts business with the Institute. 

22 (ii) BLIND TRUST REQUIREMENT.—A 

23 member of the Board shall place the assets 

24 of the member in a blind trust for the duVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Mar 13, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3878.IS S3878

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1 ration of the term of the member on the 

2 Board. 

3 (iii) PROHIBITION ON NEPOTISM.—An 

4 individual may not be appointed as a mem5 ber of the Board if a relative of the indi6 vidual is an elected official in an Americas 

7 partner country. 

8 (iv) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

9 The Board may impose such other ethics 

10 and disclosure requirements as the Board 

11 considers appropriate. 

12 (3) REPRESENTATION.—Each member of the 

13 Board shall have an equal vote in all matters. 

14 (4) MEETINGS; QUORUM.— 

15 (A) FREQUENCY OF MEETINGS.—The 

16 Board shall meet not less frequently than once 

17 every 90 days. 

18 (B) QUORUM.—Members of the Board rep19 resenting a majority of the total votes on the 

20 Board are required to be present to constitute 

21 a quorum. 

22 (5) CHAIRPERSON.—There shall be a chair23 person of the Board, who shall— 

24 (A) be elected by a majority vote of the 

25 Board from among members of the Board; and 


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1 (B) preside over meetings of the Board. 

2 (6) CALCULATION OF VOTES.—For purposes of 

3 determining a majority vote of the Board, vacancies 

4 that have not been filled shall not be counted toward 

5 any total. 

6 (7) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—A member of 

7 the Board may request information from the Insti8 tute and provide that information to the government 

9 of the Americas partner country the member rep10 resents unless the chairperson of the Board deter11 mines that sharing that information may violate the 

12 privacy of a user of the e-governance system, endan13 ger cyber security, or violate any applicable law. 

14 (c) STAFF.— 

15 (1) CHIEF EXECUTIVE.—There shall be a Chief 

16 Executive of the Institute, who— 

17 (A) shall— 

18 (i) be elected and appointed by the 

19 majority vote of the Board; and 

20 (ii) be vested with the full executive 

21 authority of the Institute; and 

22 (B) may be removed by a majority vote of 

23 the Board. 

24 (2) ADDITIONAL EMPLOYEES.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Chief Executive 

2 may— 

3 (i) appoint such employees, including 

4 managers, assistant managers, officers, at5 torneys, and agents, as the Chief Executive 

6 considers necessary; 

7 (ii) define the compensation (subject 

8 to subparagraph (B)) and duties of those 

9 employees; and 

10 (iii) establish a system of organization 

11 to fix responsibility and promote efficiency. 

12 (B) SALARIES.—The salaries of officers 

13 and employees of the Institute shall be equiva14 lent to the salaries provided for under the Gen15 eral Schedule under section 5332 of title 5, 

16 United States Code. 

17 (C) SALARY CAP.—No regular officer or 

18 employee of the Institute may receive a salary 

19 that exceeds the salary of the Chief Executive. 

20 (d) CORPORATE POWERS.—Except as otherwise spe21 cifically provided in this Act, the Institute— 

22 (1) shall have succession in its corporate name; 

23 (2) may sue and be sued in its corporate name; 

24 (3) may adopt and use a corporate seal, which 

25 shall be judicially noticed; 


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1 (4) may make contracts; 

2 (5) may adopt, amend, and repeal bylaws; and 

3 (6) may purchase or lease, hold, and dispose of 

4 such real and personal property as the Institute 

5 deems necessary or convenient in the transaction of 

6 its business. 

7 (e) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—In this 

8 section, the term ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an orga9 nization— 

10 (1) described in section 501(c)(3) of the Inter11 nal Revenue Code of 1986; and 

12 (2) exempt from tax under section 501(a) of 

13 such Code. 

14 SEC. 102. E-GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK. 

15 (a) DEVELOPMENT.—The Institute shall develop and 

16 maintain a comprehensive e-governance framework for 

17 Americas partner countries. 

18 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the e-governance 

19 framework developed under subsection (a) shall be to allow 

20 for the development of interoperable services to harmonize 

21 and facilitate the delivery of effective and transparent gov22 ernment services within and between Americas partner 

23 countries. 


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1 (c) PRINCIPLES.—In developing the e-governance 

2 framework under subsection (a), the Institute shall ensure 

3 that the framework adheres to the following principles: 

4 (1) INTEROPERABILITY.—The framework shall 

5 be designed to allow different government systems 

6 to, when appropriate, seamlessly share data with 

7 each other, consistent with applicable laws and pri8 vacy restrictions under subsection (d). 

9 (2) DECENTRALIZATION.—The framework 

10 should seek to avoid centralized control over data, 

11 and should allow the government of each Americas 

12 partner country to maintain control over its own 

13 data while still facilitating cross-border data sharing. 

14 Data control and hosting under the framework 

15 should be consistent with local law and international 

16 agreements. Nothing in this paragraph may be con17 strued to contravene or supercede laws or agree18 ments in effect before the date of the enactment of 

19 this Act. 

20 (3) OPEN STANDARDS.—The framework should, 

21 to the greatest extent practicable, be built on open 

22 standards that are freely available to the public. 

23 (4) DATA SOVEREIGNTY.—The framework 

24 should ensure that each Americas partner country 


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1 maintains control over the data of citizens of that 

2 country. 

3 (5) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS.—The 

4 framework should allow for the collaboration of pub5 lic and private entities in the development, design, 

6 and maintenance of e-governance systems. 

7 (6) OPEN SOURCE.—Systems developed by the 

8 Institute should, to the extent practicable, be open 

9 source. Systems developed by Americas partner 

10 countries are encouraged to be open source as well. 

11 (7) ADAPTATION.—The framework shall ac12 count, consistent with other provisions of this Act, 

13 for existing e-governance systems developed by 

14 Americas partner countries, including by adopting, 

15 in part or in whole, existing e-governance systems as 

16 part of the framework or as reference implementa17 tions within the framework. 

18 (d) PRIVACY.—The e-governance framework devel19 oped under subsection (a) shall incorporate privacy best20 practices, including as follows: 

21 (1) DATA MINIMIZATION.—Systems developed 

22 under the framework should collect only the minimal 

23 set of data necessary for a given purpose and with24 out any additional processing unnecessary for ful25 filling that purpose. 


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1 (2) DATA PROTECTION.—The Institute shall de2 fine necessary access controls for data and require 

3 encryption of data where appropriate. 

4 (3) DATA RETENTION.—The Institute shall de5 velop and publish a data retention policy, which 

6 shall— 

7 (A) be honored by any system operating 

8 under the framework; 

9 (B) include a disclosure of— 

10 (i) what user information is stored by 

11 a particular system; 

12 (ii) whether that information is 

13 encrypted; and 

14 (iii) for how long the information is 

15 stored; and 

16 (C) provide for the Institute to provide, in 

17 a timely fashion, all data held related to an in18 dividual or entity upon the request of the indi19 vidual or entity. 

20 (4) DATA DELETION.—Systems developed 

21 under the framework shall, to the greatest extent 

22 practicable, include a mechanism by which— 

23 (A) a user may request that any system 

24 operating under the framework delete any data 

25 on the user; and 


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1 (B) such a request is honored within 72 

2 hours, except as required by other applicable 

3 law. 

4 (5) DATA CORRECTION.—Systems developed 

5 under the framework shall, to the greatest extent 

6 practicable, incorporate mechanisms under which— 

7 (A) a user may request to correct inac8 curate data in the framework related to the 

9 user; and 

10 (B) such a request is honored within 72 

11 hours after the correct data has been verified. 

12 (6) OTHER PRIVACY PRACTICES.—The Institute 

13 may develop and enforce such other privacy prac14 tices as the Institute considers appropriate. 

15 (e) CYBER SECURITY.—The e-governance framework 

16 developed under subsection (a) shall incorporate cyber se17 curity best practices, including the following: 

18 (1) Appropriate access controls and user au19 thentication, which may— 

20 (A) vary by service according to the sensi21 tivity of the data involved; and 

22 (B) include the integration of any national 

23 electronic identification systems of Americas 

24 partner countries. 


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1 (2) Regular penetration testing by an outside 

2 organization certified by the Institute, to be con3 ducted not less frequently than once a year. 

4 (3) Provision of a common vulnerability disclo5 sure policy for systems operating under the frame6 work. 

7 (4) Such other cyber security best practices as 

8 the Institute considers appropriate. 

9 (f) ENFORCEMENT.— 

10 (1) AUDITS.—Each system of an Americas 

11 partner country operating under the e-governance 

12 framework developed under subsection (a) shall un13 dergo annual audits by an outside organization cer14 tified by the Institute. That audit shall assess the 

15 compliance of the system with the privacy and secu16 rity requirements of this section and such other re17 quirements as the Institute considers necessary. 

18 (2) EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE.—If an audit 

19 conducted under paragraph (1) indicates that a sys20 tem or systems of an Americas partner country are 

21 substantially noncompliant with the privacy and se22 curity requirements of this section, the Institute 

23 may— 

24 (A) designate the system or systems as 

25 noncompliant; 


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1 (B) recommend that other Americas part2 ner countries take such actions as may be nec3 essary to protect the privacy and security of the 

4 systems and data of those countries; and 

5 (C) withhold, in part or in whole, further 

6 assistance to the country the system or systems 

7 of which are designated as noncompliant, in8 cluding revoking privileges or access to any 

9 services or shared infrastructure of the Insti10 tute, until such a time as the Institute deter11 mines that the system or systems are compli12 ant. 

13 (3) ALLOWANCES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Institute may cer15 tify as partially or wholly compliant any system 

16 of an Americas partner country if the Institute 

17 determines that the country is making a good 

18 faith effort at compliance, but has not fully 

19 achieved compliance with all the requirements 

20 of this section. 

21 (B) ELEMENTS.—A certification under 

22 subparagraph (A) may include a certification 

23 that a system is temporarily compliant— 

24 (i) during— 


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1 (I) the development of the sys2 tem; 

3 (II) partial deployments of the 

4 system; or 

5 (III) deployments of minimum 

6 viable products; or 

7 (ii) if the Institute determines that 

8 compliance with the requirements of this 

9 section would substantially hinder the abil10 ity of a country to effectively provide crit11 ical services to citizens of the country and 

12 there is no practical path to achieve com13 pliance and effectively provide such serv14 ices. 

15 (4) SUSPENSION OF PARTNERSHIP.—If the par16 ticipation of a country in a partnership agreement is 

17 suspended under section 201(d), the Institute— 

18 (A) may terminate the provision of any 

19 services or assistance to the country; and 

20 (B) may take such steps as are necessary 

21 to ensure any systems affected by the termi22 nation are transitioned appropriately to mini23 mize disruptions to the citizens of that country. 

24 (g) MULTILINGUAL FUNCTIONALITY.—The Institute 

25 shall ensure that all resources necessary to develop sysVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Mar 13, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3878.IS S3878

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1 tems compliant with the e-governance framework devel2 oped under subsection (a) are available in all necessary 

3 languages. 

4 SEC. 103. ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF INSTITUTE. 

5 (a) INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.—The Institute 

6 shall seek to promote collaboration between Americas 

7 partner countries on the development, standardization, 

8 and deployment of e-governance systems, including such 

9 systems developed outside the e-governance framework de10 veloped under section 102 and systems developed before 

11 the implementation of this Act. 

12 (b) DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.—The Institute shall be 

13 responsible for assisting Americas partner countries in the 

14 development and deployment of e-governance systems in 

15 compliance with the e-governance framework developed 

16 under section 102. Such assistance may include the fol17 lowing: 

18 (1) The development or adoption, in collabora19 tion with appropriate national and international 

20 standards organizations, of technical standards nec21 essary to promote the efficient development of sys22 tems under the framework. 

23 (2) The development of reference implementa24 tions for e-government services, as the Institute con25 siders appropriate. 


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1 (3) The development and maintenance of infra2 structure that may be shared by multiple services, 

3 including across multiple Americas partner coun4 tries, as the Institute and such countries consider 

5 appropriate. 

6 (4) Providing technical assistance to Americas 

7 partner countries in the development of services, 

8 which may include entering into contracts for devel9 oping and hosting services on behalf of such coun10 tries. Such contracts may include terms for an 

11 Americas partner country to provide the Institute 

12 with funding for development and hosting services. 

13 (5) The procurement or licensing, as the Insti14 tute considers appropriate, of commercial technology 

15 that may be shared with Americas partner countries 

16 and used for the delivery of services. 

17 (6) Providing for the certification of organiza18 tions to carry out the auditing and penetration test19 ing required by section 102(e). 

20 (7) Partnering with private sector entities for 

21 the provision, development, maintenance, or hosting 

22 of services, or other such assistance as the Institute 

23 considers necessary. 

24 (8) Providing financing to facilitate the develop25 ment or modernization of a system, subject to such 


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1 accountability mechanisms as the Institute considers 

2 necessary to ensure funds are spent efficiently and 

3 appropriately. 

4 (9) Accounting for the development of emerging 

5 technologies, including artificial intelligence, and, to 

6 the extent necessary, incorporating such technologies 

7 into systems developed by or with Americas partner 

8 countries or making recommendations for how those 

9 countries may incorporate or regulate such tech10 nologies. 

11 (10) Other matters as the Institute considers 

12 appropriate. 

13 (c) PROCUREMENT RESTRICTION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Institute shall ensure 

15 that no system or product operating under the e16 governance framework developed under section 102 

17 is involved in any contract for the development of a 

18 service as part of the e-governance framework, or 

19 shares any data, with an individual or entity resid20 ing in or acting on behalf of the Russian Federation, 

21 the People’s Republic of China, Iran, North Korea, 

22 Venezuela, Cuba, or such other countries as the In23 stitute considers necessary to protect the privacy 

24 and security of the citizens of Americas partner 

25 countries. 


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1 (2) AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE OTHER INDIVID2 UALS, ENTITIES, AND PRODUCTS.—The Institute 

3 may, as the Institute considers necessary to protect 

4 the privacy and security of the citizens of Americas 

5 partner countries, prohibit any system described in 

6 paragraph (1) from entering into any contract for 

7 the development of a service as part of the e-govern8 ance framework, or sharing any data— 

9 (A) with an individual or entity that does 

10 not reside in a country described in paragraph 

11 (1); or 

12 (B) using a product not from such a coun13 try. 

14 SEC. 104. FUNDING. 

15 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR INSTI16 TUTE.—There are authorized to be appropriated 

17 $10,000,000 to establish the Institute. 

18 (b) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—Such sums as may be 

19 necessary to carry out this title shall be made available 

20 from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account estab21 lished under section 301. 


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1 TITLE II—TRADE AND INVEST2 MENT FOR THE AMERICAS 

3 Subtitle A—Administration 

4 SEC. 201. PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS. 

5 (a) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO PARTNERSHIP

6 AGREEMENTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State may 

8 enter into partnership agreements with countries in 

9 the Western Hemisphere, which shall serve as the 

10 gateway into accession of additional countries to the 

11 USMCA under section 222. 

12 (2) INCLUSIONS.—A partnership agreement en13 tered into under paragraph (1) shall include protec14 tions for democracy and human rights and anti-cor15 ruption measures consistent with the Inter-American 

16 Democratic Charter and the International Covenant 

17 on Civil and Political Rights. 

18 (3) CONSULTATIONS.—The Secretary shall— 

19 (A) consult with Congress during negotia20 tions for a partnership agreement under para21 graph (1); and 

22 (B) notify Congress not less than 15 days 

23 before signing the partnership agreement. 


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1 (4) INELIGIBLE COUNTRIES.—The Secretary 

2 may not enter into a partnership agreement under 

3 paragraph (1) with a country— 

4 (A) that is a member of the Bolivarian Al5 liance for the Peoples of Our America; 

6 (B) the government of which is listed 

7 under subparagraph (C) of section 110(b)(1) of 

8 the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 

9 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) (commonly referred to 

10 as ‘‘tier 3’’) in the most recent report on traf11 ficking in persons required under such section 

12 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Trafficking in 

13 Persons Report’’); or 

14 (C) the government of which is not— 

15 (i) committed to the fight against ter16 rorism; or 

17 (ii) in compliance with the terms of 

18 the Inter-American Democratic Charter of 

19 the Organization of American States. 

20 (b) COMMITMENTS.—A partner country shall commit 

21 to abide by the terms of the partnership agreement en22 tered into under subsection (a). 

23 (c) SUSPENSION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall 

25 move to suspend the participation of a country in a 


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1 partnership agreement entered into under subsection 

2 (a) at the end of the one-year period beginning on 

3 the date on which the Secretary of State, in coordi4 nation with the heads of other relevant agencies and 

5 upon consultation with Congress, determines that 

6 the country is in violation of the commitments of the 

7 country under subsection (b) or is ineligible under 

8 subsection (a)(4), unless the country comes into 

9 compliance with those commitments and becomes eli10 gible before the end of that period. 

11 (2) NOTIFICATION TO THE SECRETARIAT.— 

12 Upon making a determination described in para13 graph (1) with respect to a country, the Secretary 

14 of State shall provide a notice of the determination, 

15 to be considered at the next scheduled meeting of 

16 the Americas Partnership Secretariat established 

17 under section 204, along with a list of deficiencies 

18 the government of the country could remedy to come 

19 back into compliance with the commitments of the 

20 country under subsection (b) and to become eligible 

21 under subsection (a)(4). The text of the notice and 

22 the list shall be provided to— 

23 (A) the permanent representative of the 

24 government of the country at the Secretariat; 


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1 (B) the government of each Americas part2 ner country; and 

3 (C) the Committee on Finance of the Sen4 ate and the Committee on Ways and Means of 

5 the House of Representatives. 

6 (3) VISIT REQUIRED.—Before the Secretary of 

7 State makes a motion under paragraph (1) with re8 spect to a country, the Deputy Assistant Secretary 

9 of State for the Americas Partnership established 

10 under section 203(c)(1) shall seek a formal visit 

11 from the Americas Partnership Secretariat to the 

12 country to explain the reasons for the motion under 

13 paragraph (1). 

14 (4) EFFECT OF SUSPENSION.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the participation of a 

16 country in a partnership agreement entered into 

17 under subsection (a) is suspended under para18 graph (1)— 

19 (i) the provisions of this title and the 

20 amendments made by this title shall not 

21 apply with respect to the country during 

22 the period of suspension; and 

23 (ii) the Secretary of State shall use 

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1 sure the government of that country to 

2 take the actions necessary to come into 

3 compliance with the eligibility requirements 

4 under subsection (c). 

5 (B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The sus6 pension of the participation of a country in a 

7 partnership agreement under paragraph (1) 

8 may not be construed to affect the relationship 

9 of that country to any country, other than the 

10 United States, that is a party or a potential 

11 party to the USMCA. 

12 (d) INITIAL PARTNER COUNTRIES.—The first coun13 tries with which the Secretary of State shall seek to enter 

14 into partnership agreements under subsection (a) shall be 

15 countries identified under the Americas Partnership for 

16 Economic Prosperity (APEP) executive program that are 

17 not ineligible under subsection (a)(4). 

18 (e) COUNTRIES SEEKING PARTNERSHIP AGREE19 MENTS.— 

20 (1) NOTIFICATION.—A country seeking to enter 

21 into a partnership agreement under subsection (a) 

22 shall submit a notification to the Secretary of State 

23 indicating the desire of the country to enter into 

24 such an agreement. 

25 (2) RESPONSE.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

2 days after receiving a notification under para3 graph (1) from a country, the Secretary shall— 

4 (i) make a determination with respect 

5 to whether or not to enter into a partner6 ship agreement with the country; and 

7 (ii) notify the country of the deter8 mination. 

9 (B) INCLUSION IN NEGATIVE RESPONSE.— 

10 If the Secretary determines under subpara11 graph (A) not to enter into a partnership agree12 ment with a country, the Secretary shall notify 

13 the country in writing of the reasons for the de14 termination and the steps the country can take 

15 to become eligible for a partnership agreement. 

16 (f) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of State may 

17 provide grants, using amounts available for other grant 

18 programs of the Department of State, to countries to as19 sist those countries to become eligible for partnership 

20 agreements under this section. 

21 SEC. 202. AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP BUSINESS ADVISORY 

22 BOARD. 

23 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Americas Partnership 

24 Secretariat established under section 204 shall establish 

25 a business advisory board, which will meet periodically, on 


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1 an ad hoc basis, at the Secretariat to inform discussions 

2 on the business environments of Americas partner coun3 tries. 

4 (b) COMPOSITION.—The business advisory board es5 tablished under subsection (a) shall be composed of rep6 resentatives of private sector entities, civil society organi7 zations, and labor organizations from Americas partner 

8 countries. 

9 (c) ADVISORY TOPICS.—The business advisory board 

10 established under subsection (a) may provide advice to 

11 Americas partner countries through the Secretariat on the 

12 following topics relating to the business environment in 

13 Americas partner countries: 

14 (1) Regulatory hurdles. 

15 (2) Labor issues. 

16 (3) Dispute resolution challenges. 

17 (4) Legal hurdles to investment. 

18 (5) Alignment on regulation related to key 

19 emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. 

20 (6) Harmonization of reference price systems. 

21 (7) Other issues affecting the business commu22 nity in Americas partner countries. 

23 (d) COORDINATION.—The business advisory board 

24 established under subsection (a) shall coordinate with the 


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1 central regulatory coordinating bodies referred to in Arti2 cle 28.3 of the USMCA. 

3 (e) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not less frequently than an4 nually, the business advisory board established under sub5 section (a) shall submit to the Secretariat a report on the 

6 business environment in Americas partner countries, in7 cluding opportunities and challenges to investment. 

8 SEC. 203. ADMINISTRATION. 

9 (a) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.— 

10 (1) DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY OF COM11 MERCE.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the 

13 International Trade Administration of the De14 partment of Commerce a Deputy Under Sec15 retary responsible for administration of the re16 sponsibilities of the Department of Commerce 

17 under this title. 

18 (B) WORKING GROUP.—The Deputy Under 

19 Secretary established under subparagraph (A) 

20 shall establish a permanent working group, 

21 composed of representatives of the relevant 

22 agencies, to collaborate on matters relating to 

23 the administration of this title and the amend24 ments made by this title. 


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1 (2) INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRA2 TION.—The Under Secretary may increase the num3 ber of employees of the International Trade Admin4 istration by the number necessary to administer this 

5 title and the amendments made by this title. 

6 (3) UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COMMER7 CIAL SERVICE.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director General 

9 of the United States and Foreign Commercial 

10 Service (established by section 2301 of the Ex11 port Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 

12 4721)) may assign additional commercial 

13 attache ́s to serve at the United States embas14 sies in each Americas partner countries to over15 see coordination and reporting under partner16 ship agreements entered into under section 201. 

17 (B) ROLE OF COMMERCIAL ATTACHE ́S.—A 

18 commercial attache ́ assigned to an Americas 

19 partner country under subparagraph (A) 

20 shall— 

21 (i) coordinate with the Department of 

22 the Treasury with respect to loans pro23 vided under section 212(a) to incentivize 

24 re-shoring and near-shoring; 


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1 (ii) be the lead officer on the country 

2 team, under the Chief of Mission, respon3 sible for implementation of the partnership 

4 agreement entered into under section 201 

5 with that country; and 

6 (iii) carry out such other duties as the 

7 Director General or the Chief of Mission 

8 may assign for successful implementation 

9 of the Americas program. 

10 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available 

12 to the Secretary of Commerce, from the Re13 shoring and Near-shoring Account established 

14 under section 301, $10,000,000 for each of fis15 cal years of 2024, 2025, and 2026 to admin16 ister this title and the amendments made by 

17 this title. 

18 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts 

19 made available pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

20 shall be available until expended. 

21 (b) OFFICE OF UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENT22 ATIVE.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Office 

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1 sistant United States Trade Representative for the 

2 Americas Partnership, who shall— 

3 (A) be responsible for negotiations with re4 spect to— 

5 (i) the accession of countries to the 

6 USMCA pursuant to the mechanism devel7 oped pursuant to section 222(b); and 

8 (ii) designation of Americas partner 

9 countries as CBTPA beneficiary countries 

10 (as defined in section 213(b)(5) of the Car11 ibbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, as 

12 amended by section 224); 

13 (B) hire the staff necessary to support ne14 gotiations described in subparagraph (A); and 

15 (C) coordinate closely with the Under Sec16 retary with respect to administration of this 

17 title. 

18 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available 

20 to the United States Trade Representative, 

21 from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account 

22 established under section 301, $5,000,000 for 

23 each of fiscal years of 2024, 2025, and 2026 to 

24 administer this title and the amendments made 

25 by this title. 


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1 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts 

2 made available pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

3 shall be available until expended. 

4 (c) DEPARTMENT OF STATE.— 

5 (1) DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR THE

6 AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP.—There shall be in the Bu7 reau for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Depart8 ment of State a Deputy Assistant Secretary for the 

9 Americas Partnership, who— 

10 (A) may be the United States representa11 tive to the Americas Partnership Secretariat; 

12 and 

13 (B) shall, in coordination with the Under 

14 Secretary, coordinate people-to-people efforts 

15 under this title on behalf of the Department of 

16 State. 

17 (2) ADDITIONAL CIVIL SERVICE OFFICERS.— 

18 The Secretary of State may hire sufficient civil serv19 ice officers to fulfill the successful management of 

20 the efforts described in paragraph (1). 

21 (3) ADDITIONAL FOREIGN AFFAIRS OFFI22 CERS.—The Secretary of State may hire additional 

23 foreign affairs officers, relative to the number of 

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1 ment of this Act, to support the implementation of 

2 this title. 

3 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available 

5 to the Secretary of State, from the Re-shoring 

6 and Near-shoring Account established under 

7 section 301, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 

8 years of 2024, 2025, and 2026 to administer 

9 this title and the amendments made by this 

10 title. 

11 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts 

12 made available pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

13 shall be available until expended. 

14 (d) UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL

15 DEVELOPMENT.— 

16 (1) DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR

17 THE AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP.—There shall be in 

18 the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of 

19 the United States Agency for International Develop20 ment a Deputy Assistant Administrator for the 

21 Americas Partnership, who shall, in coordination 

22 with the Under Secretary, coordinate development, 

23 humanitarian, and people-to-people efforts under 

24 this title on behalf of the United States Agency for 

25 International Development. 


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1 (2) ADDITIONAL FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS

2 AND OTHER EMPLOYEES.—The Administrator of the 

3 United States Agency for International Development 

4 may hire additional foreign service officers, relative 

5 to the number of such officers on the day before the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, to support the im7 plementation of this title. 

8 (3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available 

10 to the Administrator, from the Re-shoring and 

11 Near-shoring Account established under section 

12 301, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years of 

13 2024, 2025, and 2026 to administer this title 

14 and the amendments made by this title. 

15 (B) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts 

16 made available pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

17 shall be available until expended. 

18 (e) OTHER BUREAUS AND OFFICES.—The Presi19 dent— 

20 (1) may establish such additional bureaus and 

21 offices as the President considers appropriate to im22 plement this title; and 

23 (2) shall ensure that a description of any such 

24 bureaus and offices is included in the annual report 

25 required by section 205. 


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1 (f) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts shall be 

2 made available to carry out this section from the Re-shor3 ing and Near-shoring Account established under section 

4 301. 

5 SEC. 204. AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP SECRETARIAT. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 day after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, there shall be estab8 lished in the United States the ‘‘Americas Partnership 

9 Secretariat’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secre10 tariat’’). 

11 (b) DUTIES.—The Secretariat shall be responsible for 

12 duties including— 

13 (1) coordinating diplomatic, economic, and peo14 ple-to-people efforts of the Americas partner coun15 tries under this title and the amendments made by 

16 this title; 

17 (2) carrying out efforts to build and advance 

18 partnerships between city mayors and other sub19 national government leaders from Americas partner 

20 countries, civil society organizations, and private sec21 tor entities to expand subnational diplomacy; and 

22 (3) providing policy and technical support 

23 through dialogue, research, and other structured en24 gagements. 


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1 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The membership of the Secre2 tariat shall be comprised of representatives from the gov3 ernments of Americas partner countries. Selection of such 

4 representatives shall be determined by the governments of 

5 the Americas partner countries. 

6 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available to 

8 the Secretariat, from the Re-shoring and Near-shor9 ing Account established under section 301, 

10 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years of 2024, 2025, 

11 and 2026 to carry out the duties of the Secretariat 

12 under this title and the amendments made by this 

13 title. 

14 (2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts made 

15 available pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be 

16 available until expended. 

17 SEC. 205. REPORT. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

19 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

20 the Under Secretary shall submit to the appropriate con21 gressional committees a report on efforts carried out 

22 under this title. 

23 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

24 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con25 gressional committees’’ means— 


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1 (1) the Committee on Finance and the Com2 mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and 

3 (2) the Committee on Ways and Means and the 

4 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep5 resentatives. 

6 Subtitle B—Trade 

7 CHAPTER 1—RE-SHORING AND NEAR8 SHORING 

9 SEC. 211. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

11 the re-shoring and near-shoring of industry from China 

12 into the United States is in the national security interest 

13 of the United States and therefore falls under the national 

14 security exceptions under article XXI of the GATT 1994. 

15 (b) GATT 1994 DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

16 ‘‘GATT 1994’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

17 2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 

18 3501). 

19 SEC. 212. INCENTIVES FOR RE-SHORING AND NEAR-SHOR20 ING OF BUSINESSES FROM PEOPLE’S REPUB21 LIC OF CHINA. 

22 (a) LOANS AND GRANTS.— 

23 (1) LENDING AUTHORITY.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

25 provide loans to covered entities. 


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1 (B) AMOUNT.—The total amount of loans 

2 that may be provided under subparagraph (A) 

3 may not exceed $70,000,000,000. 

4 (C) COVERAGE OF LOANS.—Loans pro5 vided to covered entities under subparagraph 

6 (A) may be used for— 

7 (i) the costs of moving inventory, 

8 equipment, and supplies from the People’s 

9 Republic of China to the United States, an 

10 Americas partner country, or another 

11 country benefitting from a strategic supply 

12 chain identified under section 254; 

13 (ii) the costs of training workers in 

14 the United States, an Americas partner 

15 country, or a country benefitting from a 

16 strategic supply chain identified under sec17 tion 254; 

18 (iii) the costs of constructing facilities 

19 in the United States, an Americas partner 

20 country, or a country benefitting from a 

21 strategic supply chain identified under sec22 tion 254; 

23 (iv) other costs directly related to re24 shoring or near-shoring; or 


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1 (v) loans, guarantees, and other in2 struments (excluding grants) approved by 

3 the BUILD Americas Unit or the Amer4 icas Enterprise Fund designated under 

5 section 253. 

6 (2) GRANT AUTHORITY.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Com8 merce shall administer a grant program to 

9 award grants to covered entities. 

10 (B) FUNDING.—Funding for grants under 

11 the grant program required under subpara12 graph (A) shall be derived solely from the Re13 Shoring and Near-Shoring Account established 

14 under section 301. 

15 (3) ADMINISTRATION.— 

16 (A) IN THE UNITED STATES.—The Sec17 retary or the Secretary of Commerce, as the 

18 case may be, may enter into arrangements with 

19 commercial banks, credit unions, or other enti20 ties in the United States as identified by the 

21 Secretary to administer loans authorized under 

22 paragraph (1) or grants authorized under para23 graph (2) for covered entities to re-shore. 

24 (B) OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.—The 

25 Secretary or the Secretary of Commerce, as the 


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1 case may be, may enter into arrangements with 

2 the BUILD Americas Unit or regional banks to 

3 administer loans authorized under paragraph 

4 (1) or grants authorized under paragraph (2) 

5 for covered entities to near-shore. 

6 (C) DEPOSIT OF INTEREST.—The Sec7 retary shall deposit any profits earned on inter8 est bearing loans authorized under paragraph 

9 (1) in the Re-Shoring and Near-Shoring Ac10 count established under section 301. 

11 (D) REPORT.—Not later than one year 

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

13 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on 

14 the progress of the arrangements entered into 

15 under this paragraph. 

16 (4) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

19 annually thereafter, the Board of Governors of 

20 each commercial bank with respect to which the 

21 Secretary or the Secretary of Commerce has en22 tered into an arrangement under paragraph (4) 

23 and the BUILD Americas Unit shall submit to 

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1 tration by each such entity of loans or grants 

2 under this subsection, including— 

3 (i) a description of the loans issued or 

4 grants awarded; 

5 (ii) the repayment rates for any such 

6 loans; 

7 (iii) an assessment of successful re8 shoring and near-shoring projects; 

9 (iv) a description of any lessons 

10 learned; and 

11 (v) the balance sheets for any such 

12 loans. 

13 (B) TRANSMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—The 

14 Under Secretary of Commerce for International 

15 Trade shall include the information provided in 

16 reports under subparagraph (A) in the annual 

17 report required under section 401. 

18 (b) DUTY-FREE STATUS.—Notwithstanding any 

19 other provision of law, covered entities approved under 

20 subsection (c) are eligible for a one-time duty-free import 

21 of articles into the United States that are imported for 

22 the sole and express purposes of re-shoring or near-shor23 ing. 

24 (c) PROCESS FOR APPROVAL.— 


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1 (1) NOTICE.—An entity that seeks to re-shore 

2 or near-shore may submit notice of the intent of the 

3 entity to re-shore or near-shore, as the case may be, 

4 along with such paperwork as the Secretary may 

5 consider appropriate demonstrating that intent. 

6 (2) APPROVAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 

7 with the Trade Representative, shall approve entities 

8 that have submitted notice under paragraph (1) to 

9 re-shore or near-shore pursuant to such procedures 

10 as the Secretary considers appropriate. 

11 (3) USE OF CONTRACTOR.—If an entity uses a 

12 contract company for the production of goods or 

13 services in the People’s Republic of China, the ap14 proval of the entity under paragraph (2) shall not 

15 take effect until the entity notifies the Secretary and 

16 the Secretary confirms that a replacement contract 

17 has been awarded in the United States or an Amer18 icas partner country. 

19 (d) TERMINATION AND PENALTY.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para21 graph (4), a covered entity approved under sub22 section (c) to re-shore or near-shore shall have 5 

23 years following that approval to complete re-shoring 

24 or near-shoring, as the case may be, of the business 


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1 of that entity, which may include the moving of ma2 terials, personnel, and production. 

3 (2) TERMINATION OF BENEFITS.—Except as 

4 provided in paragraph (4), a covered entity is not el5 igible for benefits under this section on or after the 

6 date that is 5 years after the date on which the enti7 ty is approved under subsection (d). 

8 (3) PENALTY.—Except as provided in para9 graph (4), at the end of the 5-year period under 

10 paragraph (1), a covered entity that has not com11 pleted the re-shoring or near-shoring, as the case 

12 may be, of the business of the entity shall owe to the 

13 United States— 

14 (A) the total amount of duties the entity 

15 would have owed for imports into the United 

16 States but for the application of subsection (b); 

17 (B) the total amount of any other benefits 

18 accrued to the entity under this section, as de19 termined by the Secretary in consultation with 

20 the Trade Representative; and 

21 (C) a penalty equal to 10 percent of the 

22 amounts determined under subparagraphs (A) 

23 and (B). 


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1 (4) EXTENSION AND WAIVER.—If the Secretary 

2 determines that extraordinary circumstances exist, 

3 on a case-by-case basis, the Secretary may— 

4 (A) extend by a period of two years the 

5 deadlines under paragraphs (1) and (2); or 

6 (B) waive the amounts owed under para7 graph (3). 

8 (e) TREATMENT OF DEFAULTS.— 

9 (1) JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.—The United 

10 States shall disregard any ruling against a covered 

11 entity or a government of an Americas partner coun12 try that pertains to a default on obligations in the 

13 People’s Republic of China relating to re-shoring or 

14 near-shoring activities approved under this section. 

15 (2) INTERNATIONAL VENUES.—The President 

16 shall use the voice and vote of the United States at 

17 multilateral institutions to— 

18 (A) oppose the consideration of defaults on 

19 obligations in the People’s Republic of China 

20 relating to re-shoring or near-shoring activities 

21 approved under this section when measuring 

22 credit ratings of covered entities; and 

23 (B) disregard sovereign debt defaults and 

24 other similar actions when measuring credit 

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1 ing to debts and amounts received from the 

2 People’s Republic of China. 

3 (f) FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.— 

4 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following 

5 findings: 

6 (A) The United States Trade Representa7 tive stated in a hearing that, ‘‘The United 

8 States has repeatedly sought and obtained com9 mitments from China, only to find that follow10 through or real change remains elusive.’’. 

11 (B) The Government of the People’s Re12 public of China continues to apply the rules 

13 only when they are beneficial to them. 

14 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

15 Congress that— 

16 (A) companies approved for re-shoring or 

17 near-shoring by the Secretary should be pro18 tected from legal asset forfeiture by the Peo19 ple’s Republic of China; and 

20 (B) covered entities and transactions by 

21 covered entities are subject to the national secu22 rity exceptions under article XXI of the GATT 

23 1994 (as defined in section 2 of the Uruguay 

24 Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501)). 

25 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en2 tity’’ means an entity that has submitted notice of 

3 the intent of the entity to re-shore or near-shore 

4 under subsection (c)(1) and has been approved for 

5 re-shoring or near-shoring under subsection (c)(2). 

6 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

8 (3) TRADE REPRESENTATIVE.—The term 

9 ‘‘Trade Representative’’ means the United States 

10 Trade Representative. 

11 SEC. 213. TAX CREDIT FOR QUALIFYING RE-SHORING AND 

12 NEAR-SHORING EXPENSES. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub14 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

15 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

16 section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 45BB. QUALIFYING RE-SHORING AND NEAR-SHORING 

18 EXPENSES. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 

20 qualifying re-shoring and near-shoring expense credit for 

21 any taxable year is an amount equal to the sum of— 

22 ‘‘(1) 50 percent of the qualified re-shoring 

23 project expenses of the taxpayer, and 

24 ‘‘(2) 35 percent of the qualified near-shoring 

25 project expenses of the taxpayer. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

2 ‘‘(1) QUALIFYING RE-SHORING PROJECT EX3 PENSES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualifying 

5 re-shoring project expenses’ means any eligible 

6 expenses which are— 

7 ‘‘(i) made pursuant to a qualified re8 shoring project, and 

9 ‘‘(ii) certified by the Secretary under 

10 subsection (c) as eligible for the credit 

11 under this section. 

12 ‘‘(B) QUALIFYING RE-SHORING

13 PROJECT.—The term ‘qualifying re-shoring 

project’ means a project under which 2 14 ⁄3 or 

15 more of the operations of a trade or business of 

16 the taxpayer is moved from the People’s Repub17 lic of China to the United States. 

18 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING NEAR-SHORING PROJECT EX19 PENSES.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualifying 

21 near-shoring project expenses’ means any eligi22 ble expenses which are— 

23 ‘‘(i) made pursuant to a qualified 

24 near-shoring project, and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) certified by the Secretary under 

2 subsection (c) as eligible for the credit 

3 under this section. 

4 ‘‘(B) QUALIFYING NEAR-SHORING

5 PROJECT.—For purposes of this subpart, the 

6 term ‘qualifying near-shoring project’ means a 

project under which 2 7 ⁄3 or more of the oper8 ations of a trade or business of the taxpayer is 

9 moved from the People’s Republic of China to 

10 an Americas partner country. 

11 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE EXPENSES.—The term ‘eligible 

12 expenses’ means any expenses paid or incurred in 

13 connection with moving the operations of the trade 

14 or businesses. 

15 ‘‘(4) AMERICAS PARTNER COUNTRY.—For pur16 poses of this section, the term ‘Americas partner 

17 country’ has the meaning given such term under sec18 tion 2 of the Americas Act. 

19 ‘‘(c) QUALIFYING RE-SHORING AND NEAR-SHORING

20 PROJECT PROGRAM.— 

21 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

23 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

24 the Secretary, in consultation with the United 

25 States Trade Representative, shall establish a 


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•S 3878 IS

1 qualifying re-shoring and near-shoring project 

2 program to consider and award certifications 

3 for eligible expenses among taxpayers with 

4 qualifying re-shoring projects and qualifying 

5 near-shoring projects. 

6 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The total amount 

8 of credits that may be allocated under the 

9 program shall not exceed $5,000,000,000. 

10 ‘‘(ii) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the 

11 sense of Congress that the limitation under 

12 clause (i) should be increased after the 

13 date on which the Secretary notifies the 

14 Committee on Finance of the Senate and 

15 the Committee on Ways and Means of the 

16 House of Representatives that 80 percent 

17 of such limitation has been allocated. 

18 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.— 

19 ‘‘(A) APPLICATION PERIOD.—Each appli20 cant for certification under this paragraph shall 

21 submit an application containing such informa22 tion as the Secretary may require. 

23 ‘‘(B) TIME FOR MAKING EXPENSES.—Each 

24 applicant for certification shall have 5 years 

25 from the date of acceptance by the Secretary of 


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•S 3878 IS

1 the application to pay or incur the eligible ex2 penses certified under the program. 

3 ‘‘(3) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In determining 

4 which qualifying re-shoring projects and qualifying 

5 near-shoring projects to certify under this section, 

6 the Secretary— 

7 ‘‘(A) shall take into consideration— 

8 ‘‘(i) projects which create strategic 

9 supply chains, products, or entities (as 

10 identified under section 254(b) of the 

11 Americas Act) within the United States, 

12 ‘‘(ii) projects which create strategic 

13 supply chains, products, or entities (as so 

14 identified) within an Americas partner 

15 country, and 

16 ‘‘(iii) projects which create other in17 dustries within the United States or a 

18 Americas partner country, 

19 ‘‘(B) shall take into consideration which 

20 projects— 

21 ‘‘(i) will provide the greatest domestic 

22 job creation (both direct and indirect), 

23 ‘‘(ii) will create capital investment, 

24 and 

25 ‘‘(iii) will increase manufacturing. 


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1 ‘‘(4) DISCLOSURE OF ALLOCATIONS.—The Sec2 retary shall, upon making a certification under this 

3 subsection, publicly disclose the identity of the appli4 cant and the amount of the credit with respect to 

5 such applicant. 

6 ‘‘(d) RECAPTURE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If there is an applicable 

8 transaction before the close of the 10-year period be9 ginning with the first day of the taxable year for 

10 which a credit is allowed under this section, then the 

11 tax under this chapter for the taxable year in which 

12 such transaction occurs shall be increased by the ag13 gregate decrease in the credits allowed under section 

14 38 for all prior taxable years which would have re15 sulted solely from reducing to zero any credit deter16 mined under subsection (a). 

17 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

18 apply if the applicable taxpayer demonstrates to the 

19 satisfaction of the Secretary that the applicable 

20 transaction has been ceased or abandoned within 45 

21 days of a determination and notice by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(3) APPLICABLE TRANSACTION.—The term 

23 ‘applicable transaction’ means, any significant trans24 action (as determined by the Secretary, in coordina25 tion with the Secretary of Commerce and the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Mar 13, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3878.IS S3878

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•S 3878 IS

1 retary of Defense) involving the material expansion 

2 in the People’s Republic of China of the operations 

3 of the same or similar a trade or business with re4 spect to which the qualifying re-shoring project or 

5 qualifying near-shoring project relates. 

6 ‘‘(4) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE.—The Sec7 retary shall issue such regulations or other guidance 

8 as the Secretary determines necessary or appropriate 

9 to carry out the purposes of this paragraph, includ10 ing regulations or other guidance which provide for 

11 requirements for recordkeeping or information re12 porting for purposes of administering the require13 ments of this paragraph. 

14 ‘‘(e) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of the amount 

16 of the credit determined under this section, no de17 duction or credit shall be allowed for such amount 

18 under any other provision of this chapter. 

19 ‘‘(2) BASIS ADJUSTMENT.—For purposes of 

20 this subtitle, if a credit is allowed under this section 

21 with respect to any property, the basis of such prop22 erty shall be reduced by the amount of the credit so 

23 allowed. 


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1 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 

2 regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this sec3 tion.’’. 

4 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

5 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of the Internal 

6 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at 

7 the end of paragraph (40), by striking the period at the 

8 end of paragraph (41) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by add9 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(42) the qualifying re-shoring and near-shor11 ing expense credit determined under section 

12 45BB(a).’’. 

13 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

15 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol16 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45BB. Qualifying re-shoring and near-shoring expenses.’’. 

17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax19 able years beginning after the date of the enactment of 

20 this Act. 

21 CHAPTER 2—FREE TRADE EXPANSION 

22 SEC. 221. TARIFF RECIPROCITY UNDER GATT 1994. 

23 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con24 gress that— 


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1 (1) the United States has one of the lowest ap2 plied duty rates in the world, with bound duty rates 

3 set in parity to applied rates; 

4 (2) in using article XXVIII of GATT 1994 to 

5 renegotiate bound duty rates, the United States can 

6 gain flexibility in its tariff schedules, which will pro7 vide certainty to treaty-based tariff countries under 

8 free trade agreements and provide maneuverability 

9 in the case of egregious behavior by other WTO 

10 members, including the People’s Republic of China; 

11 and 

12 (3) having the lowest bound duty rates has re13 sulted in unsustainable trade deficits that have be14 come an issue for the national security of the United 

15 States. 

16 (b) INCREASE OF RATES AND RECIPROCITY.— 

17 (1) INCREASE OF RATES.—The Trade Rep18 resentative shall increase average bound duty rates 

19 to reflect reciprocal duty rates on goods listed under 

20 the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

21 States among WTO members. 

22 (2) APPLICATION.—In increasing bound duty 

23 rates under paragraph (1), the Trade Representative 

24 is not required to raise applied duty rates. 

25 (c) NEGOTIATIONS TO INCREASE DUTIES.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Trade Representative 

2 shall commence negotiations under article XXVIII of 

3 GATT 1994 to increase bound duty rates on all 

4 goods. 

5 (2) PRIORITIZING.—In carrying out negotia6 tions under paragraph (1), the Trade Representative 

7 shall— 

8 (A) prioritize the increase of bound duty 

9 rates on— 

10 (i) goods entering the United States 

11 from countries identified as bad faith ac12 tors by the Secretary of the Treasury for 

13 exclusion of deminimis access; and 

14 (ii) goods entering the United States 

15 causing significant harm to industry in the 

16 United States, as determined by the Trade 

17 Representative; and 

18 (B) commit to increase rates of duties on 

19 imports into the United States if other coun20 tries do not decrease their rates in line with 

21 those rates in Schedule XX, including through 

22 consideration of national averages of duty reci23 procity. 

24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) APPLIED DUTY RATE.—The term ‘‘applied 

2 duty rate’’ means the actual duty rate applied to a 

3 good. 

4 (2) BOUND DUTY RATE.—The term ‘‘bound 

5 duty rate’’ means the maximum duty rate that may 

6 be applied to a good. 

7 (3) GATT 1994; SCHEDULE XX; WTO MEM8 BER.—The terms ‘‘GATT 1994’’, ‘‘Schedule XX’’, 

9 and ‘‘WTO member’’ have the meanings given those 

10 terms in section 2 of the Uruguay Round Agree11 ments Act (19 U.S.C. 3501). 

12 (4) TRADE REPRESENTATIVE.—The term 

13 ‘‘Trade Representative’’ means the United States 

14 Trade Representative. 

15 SEC. 222. EXPANSION OF USMCA OR ESTABLISHMENT OF 

16 OTHER REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENT. 

17 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con18 gress that— 

19 (1) the USMCA represents the gold standard 

20 for trade agreements, to which other trade agree21 ments should aspire; 

22 (2) the USMCA includes high standards on pri23 vacy, intellectual property, labor, the environment, 

24 and dispute resolution; 


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1 (3) dispute resolution mechanisms of the 

2 USMCA, the rapid response mechanism in par3 ticular, are effective tools to solve investment and 

4 labor disputes and should be strengthened and in5 cluded in any expansion of the USMCA or alter6 native trade harmonization mechanism; 

7 (4) the accession of additional high-standard 

8 economies to the USMCA would represent a benefit 

9 both to the Western Hemisphere and to the United 

10 States; 

11 (5) the periodic review of the USMCA required 

12 in 2026 represents an opportunity to negotiate with 

13 USMCA countries to create an adhesion mechanism 

14 for advanced economies in the Western Hemisphere 

15 to join the USMCA; 

16 (6) Costa Rica and Uruguay, both high-income 

17 countries as defined by the World Bank, represent 

18 ideal candidates to pilot an accession process for the 

19 USMCA, due to— 

20 (A) the stated desire of those countries to 

21 join the USMCA; 

22 (B) the advanced state of the economies of 

23 those countries as determined by the 

24 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and 

25 Development; and 


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1 (C) the comparatively small nature of the 

2 populations and economies of those countries; 

3 and 

4 (7) the United States, working closely with 

5 USMCA countries and other free trade agreement 

6 partners in the Western Hemisphere, should study 

7 the potential benefits of aligning rules of origin and 

8 allowing for cumulation in strategically selected sec9 tors. 

10 (b) DEVELOPMENT OF ACCESSION MECHANISM.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Trade 

12 Representative, in conducting the periodic review of 

13 the USMCA required to be conducted in 2026, may 

14 seek agreement with USMCA countries to develop a 

15 mechanism for accession of additional countries to 

16 the USMCA. 

17 (2) TREATMENT OF CAFTA–DR COUNTRIES.— 

18 (A) RULES OF ORIGIN FOR TEXTILE AND

19 APPAREL GOODS.—For purposes of the acces20 sion to the USMCA pursuant to the mechanism 

21 developed under paragraph (1) of any CAFTA– 

22 DR country, the rules of origin under CAFTA– 

23 DR for textile and apparel goods shall remain 

24 in place for that country during— 


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1 (i) the 5-year period following formal 

2 accession of that country to the USMCA; 

3 and 

4 (ii) an additional 5-year period if de5 termined appropriate pursuant to the 

6 study conducted under subsection (c). 

7 (B) STUDY ON TEXTILE AND APPAREL IM8 PACT.—Not later than 5 years after the acces9 sion of a CAFTA–DR country to the USMCA 

10 pursuant to the mechanism developed under 

11 paragraph (1), the United States International 

12 Trade Commission shall commission a study to 

13 analyze the impact of that accession on the tex14 tile and apparel sector of that country and 

15 CAFTA–DR as a whole, highlighting both neg16 ative and positive repercussions to the trade 

17 and apparel manufacturing environment. 

18 (C) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

19 (i) CAFTA–DR.—The term 

20 ‘‘CAFTA–DR’’ means the Dominican Re21 public-Central America-United States Free 

22 Trade Agreement— 

23 (I) entered into on August 5, 

24 2004, between the Government of the 

25 United States and the Governments of 


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1 Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, 

2 El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, 

3 and Nicaragua, and submitted to Con4 gress on June 23, 2005; and 

5 (II) approved by Congress under 

6 section 101(a)(1) of the Dominican 

7 Republic-Central American-United 

8 States Free Trade Agreement Imple9 mentation Act (19 U.S.C. 

10 4011(a)(1)). 

11 (ii) CAFTA–DR COUNTRY.—The 

12 term ‘‘CAFTA–DR country’’ means Costa 

13 Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Sal14 vador, Guatemala, Honduras, or Nica15 ragua. 

16 (c) STUDY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas18 ury shall conduct a study on the feasibility and ad19 visability of expanding the USMCA or carrying out 

20 other trade-related approaches for— 

21 (A) harmonization; 

22 (B) cumulation; 

23 (C) co-creation; and 

24 (D) intra-regional trade, investment, and 

25 standards harmonization. 


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1 (2) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

3 the Treasury shall submit to Congress a report on 

4 the study conducted under paragraph (1). 

5 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON RETENTION OF BENE6 FITS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.—It is the sense of Congress 

7 that Americas partner countries that benefit from free 

8 trade agreements with the United States or trade pref9 erences programs of the United States will retain the ben10 efits and responsibilities of those agreements until and un11 less they accede to the USMCA through the process devel12 oped pursuant to this section. 

13 SEC. 223. AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP THRESHOLD PROGRAM. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

15 Department of Commerce a program to be known as the 

16 Americas Partnership Threshold Program under which 

17 the Secretary of Commerce shall work with Americas part18 ner countries— 

19 (1) to prepare those countries for a possible 

20 process for accession to the USMCA; and 

21 (2) to bring those countries up to the standards 

22 of the USMCA. 

23 (b) ASSESSMENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program 

25 required under subsection (a), the United States 


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1 Trade Representative shall conduct an assessment of 

2 each Americas partner country related to the trade3 related standards of each such country, which shall 

4 include— 

5 (A) an identification of shortcomings that 

6 would impede accession to the USMCA; and 

7 (B) a programmatic strategy to bring each 

8 such country into compliance with the stand9 ards of the USMCA. 

10 (2) SUBMISSION OF ASSESSMENT.—The United 

11 States Trade Representative shall submit any as12 sessment conducted under paragraph (1) to— 

13 (A) the Deputy Under Secretary of Com14 merce for International Trade and the Execu15 tive Secretariat of the Department of Com16 merce; and 

17 (B) the Committee on Finance of the Sen18 ate and the Committee on Ways and Means of 

19 the House of Representatives. 

20 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary of Commerce, 

21 in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Ad22 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 

23 Development, shall implement this section through acqui24 sition or assistance mechanisms. 


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1 (d) FUNDING.—Amounts required to carry out this 

2 section shall be derived from the Re-Shoring and Near3 Shoring Account established under section 301. 

4 SEC. 224. EXPANSION OF BENEFICIARIES UNDER UNITED 

5 STATES-CARIBBEAN BASIN TRADE PARTNER6 SHIP ACT. 

7 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con8 gress that trade preferences under the Caribbean Basin 

9 Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) should 

10 be extended to Americas partner countries that do not 

11 benefit from any trade preference agreement with the 

12 United States as a stop-gap measure before accession to 

13 the USMCA or another regional trade agreement under 

14 section 222. 

15 (b) EXPANSION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 213(b)(5)(B) of the 

17 Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 

18 2703(b)(5)(B)) is amended— 

19 (A) in the matter preceding clause (i)— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘means any’’ and in21 serting ‘‘means Uruguay, Ecuador, and 

22 any’’; and 

23 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or Americas partner 

24 country, as defined in section 2 of the 


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1 Americas Act,’’ before ‘‘which the Presi2 dent’’; and 

3 (B) in clause (i), in the matter preceding 

4 subclause (I), by striking ‘‘beneficiary’’. 

5 (2) NEGOTIATION.—In negotiating any expan6 sion to trade preferences under the Caribbean Basin 

7 Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), 

8 the United States Trade Representative shall ex9 clude preferences for goods that harm producers in 

10 the United States. 

11 SEC. 225. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN COUNTRIES FROM CER12 TAIN PREFERENTIAL TRADE TREATMENT. 

13 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, countries 

14 that are members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peo15 ples of Our America, as determined by the President, are 

16 ineligible for preferential trade treatment pursuant to— 

17 (1) section 213(b) of the Caribbean Basin Eco18 nomic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)); 

19 (2) any provision of, or amendment made by, 

20 this Act; and 

21 (3) any free trade agreement with respect to 

22 which the United States is a party. 


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1 SEC. 226. EXTENSION OF TRADE PROMOTION AUTHORITY 

2 TO AMERICAS PARTNER COUNTRIES FOR 

3 PURPOSES OF EXPANSION OF USMCA. 

4 (a) AGREEMENTS REGARDING TARIFF BARRIERS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of advancing 

6 trade with Americas partner countries, whenever the 

7 President determines that one or more existing du8 ties or other import restrictions of an Americas part9 ner country or the United States are unduly bur10 dening and restricting the foreign trade of the 

11 United States and that the purposes, policies, prior12 ities, and objectives of expanding the USMCA to in13 clude that country will be promoted thereby, the 

14 President— 

15 (A) may enter into trade agreements with 

16 an Americas partner country for the purposes 

17 of the accession of that country into the 

18 USMCA; and 

19 (B) may proclaim such modification or 

20 continuance of any existing duty, such continu21 ance of existing duty free or excise treatment, 

22 or such additional duties as the President deter23 mines to be required or appropriate to carry out 

24 that trade agreement. 


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1 (2) CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL.—The Presi2 dent shall seek approval from Congress to enter into 

3 a trade agreement under this subsection. 

4 (b) AGREEMENTS REGARDING TARIFF AND NON5 TARIFF BARRIERS.— 

6 (1) AGREEMENTS.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Whenever the Presi8 dent determines that one or more existing du9 ties or any other import restriction of an Amer10 icas partner country or the United States or 

11 any other barrier to, or other distortion of, 

12 international trade unduly burdens or restricts 

13 the foreign trade of the United States or ad14 versely affects the United States economy or 

15 the imposition of any such barrier or distortion 

16 is likely to result in such a burden, restriction, 

17 or effect, and that the purposes, policies, prior18 ities, and objectives of expanding the USMCA 

19 to include that country will be promoted there20 by, the President may enter into a trade agree21 ment described in subparagraph (B). 

22 (B) TRADE AGREEMENT DESCRIBED.—A 

23 trade agreement described in this subparagraph 

24 is a trade agreement with an Americas partner 


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1 country or Americas partner countries pro2 viding for— 

3 (i) the reduction or elimination of a 

4 duty, restriction, barrier, or other distor5 tion; or 

6 (ii) the prohibition of, or limitation on 

7 the imposition of, such barrier or other dis8 tortion. 

9 (2) CONDITIONS.—A trade agreement may be 

10 entered into under this subsection only if such 

11 agreement makes progress in meeting the objectives 

12 of the USMCA and the Caribbean Basin Economic 

13 Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 

14 (3) BILLS QUALIFYING FOR TRADE AUTHORI15 TIES PROCEDURES.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of sec17 tion 151 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

18 2191) apply to a bill of either House of Con19 gress that contains provisions described in sub20 paragraph (B) to the same extent as such sec21 tion 151 applies to implementing bills under 

22 that section. 

23 (B) PROVISIONS DESCRIBED.—The provi24 sions described in this subparagraph are— 


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1 (i) a provision approving a trade 

2 agreement entered into under this sub3 section and approving the statement of ad4 ministrative action, if any, proposed to im5 plement such trade agreement; and 

6 (ii) if changes in existing laws or new 

7 statutory authority are required to imple8 ment that trade agreement, only those pro9 visions as are strictly necessary or appro10 priate to implement that trade agreement, 

11 either repealing or amending existing laws 

12 or providing new statutory authority. 

13 (c) NEGOTIATIONS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may carry 

15 out negotiations with Americas partner countries for 

16 purposes of entering into a trade agreement under 

17 this section. 

18 (2) SECTORS.—Sectors included in negotiations 

19 under paragraph (1) shall include agriculture, crit20 ical minerals, commercial services, intellectual prop21 erty rights, industrial and capital goods, government 

22 procurement, information technology products, envi23 ronmental technology and services, medical equip24 ment and services, civil aircraft, digital products and 


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1 services, emerging technologies, and infrastructure 

2 products. 

3 (3) CONSIDERATION OF NEGOTIATING OBJEC4 TIVES.—In conducting negotiations under paragraph 

5 (1), the President shall take into account all of the 

6 negotiating objectives set forth in section 102 of the 

7 Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Ac8 countability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201). 

9 (d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

10 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there11 after, the President shall submit to the Committee on Fi12 nance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and 

13 Means of the House of Representatives a report on the 

14 implementation of this section, including— 

15 (1) a description of any negotiations entered 

16 into with countries that seek to accede to the 

17 USMCA; 

18 (2) a description of any negotiations entered 

19 into with countries that seek to be a CBTPA bene20 ficiary country, as defined in section 213(b)(5) of 

21 the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 

22 U.S.C. 2703(b)(5)), as amended by section 224; 

23 (3) a description of any trade agreements en24 tered into pursuant to the authority under this sec25 tion; and 


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1 (4) a full list of duties and duty-free items 

2 under trade agreements entered into pursuant to the 

3 authority under this section. 

4 CHAPTER 3—TEXTILE AND APPAREL 

5 SEC. 231. TEXTILE AND APPAREL GRANT PROGRAM. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall 

7 establish a program under which the Secretary shall award 

8 grants to textile or apparel manufacturers that are 

9 headquartered in the United States or an Americas part10 ner country to help offset the considerable financial re11 sources needed to expand or modernize domestic textile 

12 and apparel supply chain capacity. 

13 (b) USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.—A textile or apparel 

14 manufacturer in receipt of a grant awarded under this sec15 tion shall use the amounts of that grant for new facilities 

16 or equipment, to retool old equipment, or to create or ex17 pand operations for textile and apparel production in the 

18 United States or an Americas partner country. 

19 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—In carrying out this section, 

20 the Secretary— 

21 (1) shall permit advances of grant amounts to 

22 manufacturers as qualifying expenditures are made 

23 or prior to expenditures being placed in service; 

24 (2) shall require a manufacturer to comply with 

25 safety, labor, and environmental standards specified 


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1 by the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary 

2 of Labor, the Administrator of the Environmental 

3 Protection Agency, and the Director of the National 

4 Institute of Standards and Technology; and 

5 (3) may scale the amount of a grant depending 

6 on incremental employment achieved by the manu7 facturer. 

8 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

9 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Com10 merce $150,000,000 each year for 5 years to carry out 

11 the program under this section, of which— 

12 (1) $75,000,000 shall be used to carry out the 

13 program in the United States; and 

14 (2) $75,000,000 shall be used to carry out the 

15 program in Americas partner countries. 

16 SEC. 232. TEXTILE REUSE AND RECYCLING PROGRAMS. 

17 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con18 gress that— 

19 (1) textiles make up more than 10 percent of 

20 global greenhouse gas emissions; and 

21 (2) textiles are the single most common product 

22 made with slave labor in the People’s Republic of 

23 China. 

24 (b) PRIORITY ACCESS TO GRANTS AND LOANS FOR

25 TEXTILE REUSE AND RECYCLING.—The Secretary of the 


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•S 3878 IS

1 Treasury shall give priority access to grants or loans of 

2 amounts under the Re-Shoring and Near-Shoring Account 

3 established under section 301 for persons seeking to carry 

4 out programs to reuse or recycle covered products. 

5 (c) PROGRAM FOR MANUFACTURING SUPPORT AND

6 PROVISION OF COMPONENTS AND MACHINERY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 

8 shall establish a program under which the Secretary 

9 provides grants and loans for the purpose of— 

10 (A) establishing new or expanding or retro11 fitting existing facilities and providing low-car12 bon emissions transportation for collection, drop 

13 off or mail back, sorting, pre-processing, reuse, 

14 or recycling of covered products; and 

15 (B) providing components, chemicals, sol16 vents, or machinery necessary for the transpor17 tation, collection, mail back, sorting, pre-proc18 essing, reuse, or recycling of covered products. 

19 (2) FUNDING.— 

20 (A) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA21 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated, 

22 from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account 

23 established under section 301, $3,000,000,000 

24 to carry out the program under paragraph (1). 


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•S 3878 IS

1 (B) LOANS.—Of the amounts available 

2 under the lending authority under section 

3 212(a)(1), $10,000,000,000 shall be available 

4 for loans under the program under paragraph 

5 (1). 

6 (d) INNOVATION PROGRAM.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall carry 

8 out an innovation program for research and develop9 ment related to textile reuse and recycling. 

10 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 There is authorized to be appropriated 

12 $1,000,000,000 to carry out the innovation program 

13 required under paragraph (1). 

14 (e) PUBLIC EDUCATION PROGRAM.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall carry 

16 out a public education program on the dangers of 

17 fast fashion. 

18 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated 

20 $100,000,000 to carry out the public education pro21 gram required under paragraph (1). 

22 (f) RECYCLED CERTIFICATION PROCESS.—For pur23 poses of carrying out this section, the President shall en24 sure that all recycled finished textiles are certified under 


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•S 3878 IS

1 a globally recognized independent third-party assurance 

2 process. 

3 (g) FUNDING.—The Secretary of State may expend 

4 such sums as may be necessary from the Re-shoring and 

5 Near-shoring Account established under section 301 to 

6 carry out this section. 

7 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) COVERED PRODUCT.—The term ‘‘covered 

9 product’’ means— 

10 (A) textiles that are no longer wanted by 

11 an individual after purchase or cannot be sold 

12 by a business through retail; 

13 (B) recycled secondary textile raw mate14 rials and fibers; or 

15 (C) recycled finished textile products. 

16 (2) PRE-PROCESSING.—The term ‘‘pre-proc17 essing’’, with respect to a covered product, means 

18 preparing that product to be fit for recycling, which 

19 may include detrimming or other manual, mechan20 ical, or chemical means. 

21 (3) RECYCLE.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘recycle’’, 

23 with respect to covered products, means signifi24 cantly transforming those products into new 


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•S 3878 IS

1 finished or unfinished goods for use of those 

2 products in that form. 

3 (B) TRANSFORMATION.—A transformation 

4 under subparagraph (A) can take place through 

5 the deconstruction of a covered product for use 

6 in manufacturing new materials out of that 

7 product, whether through mechanical or ad8 vanced recycling methods. 

9 (C) CERTIFICATION.—A covered product 

10 qualifies as a recycled good for purposes of this 

11 paragraph as certified by a globally recognized 

12 independent third-party assurance process man13 aged according to the waste hierarchy for waste 

14 management developed by the United Nations 

15 and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

16 (4) REUSE.—The term ‘‘reuse’’, with respect to 

17 covered products that are finished textile goods, 

18 means resale, repair, rental, or upcycling (also 

19 known as remanufacturing) of those goods. 

20 (5) SORTING.—The term ‘‘sorting’’, with re21 spect to covered products, means manually or me22 chanically sorting those products for reuse or recy23 cling. 

24 (6) TEXTILE.—The term ‘‘textile’’ means ap25 parel, footwear, accessories, and household linens. 


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1 SEC. 233. TEXTILE PRODUCTION VERIFICATION TEAMS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of U.S. Cus3 toms and Border Protection shall deploy to Americas part4 ner countries permanent textile production verification 

5 teams to ensure the integrity of the textile supply chains 

6 of those countries. 

7 (b) VISITS.— 

8 (1) COUNTRIES.—Textile production 

9 verification teams under subsection (a) shall by de10 ployed to an Americas partner country not less fre11 quently than twice each year. 

12 (2) COMPANIES.—Textile production 

13 verification teams under subsection (a) may not visit 

14 the same company in consecutive visits to a country 

15 unless following up on a previous positive determina16 tion of malfeasance. 

17 (3) MINIMUM NUMBER OF INSPECTIONS.—Tex18 tile production verification teams under subsection 

19 (a) shall conduct inspections of not fewer than 15 

20 individual production facilities during each deploy21 ment required under paragraph (1). 

22 SEC. 234. TAX BENEFITS FOR APPAREL AND HOME TEXTILE 

23 PRODUCTS. 

24 (a) EXCLUSION OF INCOME FROM SALES OF CER25 TAIN PRODUCTS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of 

2 chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

3 amended by inserting after section 139I the fol4 lowing new sections: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 139J. SALES OF FINISHED TEXTILE PRODUCTS IM6 PORTED FROM QUALIFYING WESTERN HEMI7 SPHERE COUNTRIES. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a corporation, 

9 gross income shall not include any income from the quali10 fying domestic sale of qualified finished textile products. 

11 ‘‘(b) QUALIFYING DOMESTIC SALE.—For purposes of 

12 this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualifying do14 mestic sale’ means any sale or exchange within the 

15 United States. 

16 ‘‘(2) RELATED PERSONS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Such term shall not 

18 include any sale to a related person. 

19 ‘‘(B) RELATED PERSON.—For purposes of 

20 subparagraph (A), a person shall be treated as 

21 related to another person if such persons are 

22 treated as a single employer under subsection 

23 (a) or (b) of section 52 or subsection (m) or (o) 

24 of section 414, except that determinations 

25 under subsections (a) and (b) of section 52 


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•S 3878 IS

1 shall be made without regard to section 

2 1563(b). 

3 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED FINISHED TEXTILE PRODUCTS.— 

4 For purposes of this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified fin6 ished textile products’ means any inventory property 

7 (as defined in section 865(i)(1)) which— 

8 ‘‘(A) is a finished textile product, and 

9 ‘‘(B) is— 

10 ‘‘(i) an originating good under section 

11 202(c) of the United States-Mexico-Can12 ada Agreement Implementation Act (19 

13 U.S.C. 4531), section 203(b) of the Do14 minican Republic-Central America-United 

15 States Free Trade Agreement Implementa16 tion Act (19 U.S.C. 4033(b)), or a com17 parable provision of an Act to implement a 

18 free trade agreement between the United 

19 States and a qualifying Western Hemi20 sphere country, or 

21 ‘‘(ii) an eligible article under section 

22 213 of the Caribbean Basin Economic Re23 covery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703). 

24 ‘‘(2) FINISHED TEXTILE PRODUCT.—The term 

25 ‘finished textile product’ means a product put up for 


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•S 3878 IS

1 retail sale that is classifiable under chapters 50 

2 through 63 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

3 the United States. 

4 ‘‘(3) QUALIFYING WESTERN HEMISPHERE

5 COUNTRY.— The term ‘qualifying Western Hemi6 sphere country’ means any country— 

7 ‘‘(A) which is located in the Western 

8 Hemisphere, and 

9 ‘‘(B) with which the United States has a 

10 free trade agreement in effect. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 139K. TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCTS EXPORTED TO 

12 QUALIFYING WESTERN HEMISPHERE COUN13 TRIES. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a corporation, 

15 gross income shall not include any income from the quali16 fying foreign sale of any qualified textile fiber product. 

17 ‘‘(b) QUALIFYING FOREIGN SALE.—For purposes of 

18 this section— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualifying for20 eign sale’ means any sale or exchange which the tax21 payer establishes to the satisfaction of the Secretary 

22 is for any use, disposition, or consumption within a 

23 qualifying Western Hemisphere country (as defined 

24 in section 139J). 


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1 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this 

2 subsection, rules similar to the rules of subpara3 graphs (B)(i) and (C)(i) of section 250(b)(5) shall 

4 apply. 

5 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCT.—For 

6 purposes of this section— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualifying textile 

8 fiber product’ means any textile fiber product 

9 which— 

10 ‘‘(A) was manufactured, produced, or 

11 grown by the taxpayer in whole within the 

12 United States, or 

13 ‘‘(B) is an originating good under section 

14 202(c) of the United States-Mexico-Canada 

15 Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 

16 4531), section 203(b) of the Dominican Repub17 lic-Central America-United States Free Trade 

18 Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 

19 4033(b)), or a comparable provision of an Act 

20 to implement a free trade agreement between 

21 the United States and a qualifying Western 

22 Hemisphere country (as defined in section 

23 139J). 

24 ‘‘(2) TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCT.—The term 

25 ‘textile fiber product’ means— 


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•S 3878 IS

1 ‘‘(A) any manufactured fiber, whether in 

2 the finished or unfinished state, used or in3 tended for use in household or industrial textile 

4 articles, 

5 ‘‘(B) any yarn or fabric, whether in the 

6 finished or unfinished state, used or intended 

7 for use in apparel, household, or industrial tex8 tile articles, and 

9 ‘‘(C) any household or industrial textile ar10 ticle made in whole or in part of fiber, yarn, or 

11 fabric.’’. 

12 (2) NET OPERATING LOSSES.—Section 172(d) 

13 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 

14 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(10) EXCLUSIONS FOR CERTAIN TEXTILE

16 PRODUCTS.—Gross income shall be determined with17 out regard to section 139J and 139K.’’. 

18 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec19 tions for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of 

20 such Code is amended by inserting after the item re21 lating to section 139I the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 139J. Sales of finished textile products imported from qualifying Western 

Hemisphere countries. 

‘‘Sec. 139K. Textile fiber products exported to qualifying Western Hemisphere 

countries.’’. 


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•S 3878 IS

1 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

2 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin3 ning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 (b) DEDUCTION FOR DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF

5 TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part VIII of subchapter B 

7 of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

8 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

9 section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 251. INCOME ATTRIBUTABLE TO DOMESTIC TEXTILE 

11 PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a corporation, 

13 there shall be allowed as a deduction an amount equal to 

14 9 percent of the lesser of— 

15 ‘‘(1) the qualified textile production activities 

16 income of the taxpayer for the taxable year, or 

17 ‘‘(2) taxable income (determined without regard 

18 to this section) for the taxable year. 

19 ‘‘(b) DEDUCTION LIMITED TO WAGES PAID.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the deduc21 tion allowable under subsection (a) for any taxable 

22 year shall not exceed 50 percent of the W–2 wages 

23 of the taxpayer for the taxable year. 

24 ‘‘(2) W–2 WAGES.—For purposes of this sec25 tion— 


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•S 3878 IS

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘W–2 

2 wages’ means, with respect to any person for 

3 any taxable year of such person, the sum of the 

4 amounts described in paragraphs (3) and (8) of 

5 section 6051(a) paid by such person with re6 spect to employment of employees by such per7 son during the calendar year ending during 

8 such taxable year. 

9 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION TO WAGES ATTRIB10 UTABLE TO DOMESTIC TEXTILE PRODUC11 TION.—Such term shall not include any amount 

12 which is not properly allocable to domestic tex13 tile production gross receipts for purposes of 

14 subsection (c)(1). 

15 ‘‘(C) RETURN REQUIREMENT.—Such term 

16 shall not include any amount which is not prop17 erly included in a return filed with the Social 

18 Security Administration on or before the 60th 

19 day after the due date (including extensions) 

20 for such return. 

21 ‘‘(3) ACQUISITIONS, DISPOSITIONS, AND SHORT

22 TAXABLE YEARS.—The Secretary shall provide for 

23 the application of this subsection in cases of a short 

24 taxable year or where the taxpayer acquires, or dis25 poses of, the major portion of a trade or business or 


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•S 3878 IS

1 the major portion of a separate unit of a trade or 

2 business during the taxable year. 

3 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED TEXTILE PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES

4 INCOME.—For purposes of this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified textile 

6 production activities income’ for any taxable year 

7 means an amount equal to the excess (if any) of— 

8 ‘‘(A) the taxpayer’s domestic textile pro9 duction gross receipts for such taxable year, 

10 over 

11 ‘‘(B) the sum of— 

12 ‘‘(i) the cost of goods sold that are al13 locable to such receipts, and 

14 ‘‘(ii) other expenses, losses, or deduc15 tions (other than the deduction allowed 

16 under this section), which are properly al17 locable to such receipts. 

18 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION METHOD.—The Secretary 

19 shall prescribe rules for the proper allocation of 

20 items described in paragraph (1) for purposes of de21 termining qualified textile production activities in22 come. Such rules shall provide for the proper alloca23 tion of items whether or not such items are directly 

24 allocable to domestic textile production gross re25 ceipts. 


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1 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES FOR DETERMINING

2 COSTS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of deter4 mining costs under clause (i) of paragraph 

5 (1)(B), any item or service brought into the 

6 United States shall be treated as acquired by 

7 purchase, and its cost shall be treated as not 

8 less than its value immediately after it entered 

9 the United States. A similar rule shall apply in 

10 determining the adjusted basis of leased or 

11 rented property where the lease or rental gives 

12 rise to domestic textile production gross re13 ceipts. 

14 ‘‘(B) EXPORTS FOR FURTHER MANUFAC15 TURE.—In the case of any property described 

16 in subparagraph (A) that had been exported by 

17 the taxpayer for further manufacture, the in18 crease in cost or adjusted basis under subpara19 graph (A) shall not exceed the difference be20 tween the value of the property when exported 

21 and the value of the property when brought 

22 back into the United States after the further 

23 manufacture. 

24 ‘‘(4) DOMESTIC TEXTILE PRODUCTION GROSS

25 RECEIPTS.— 


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•S 3878 IS

1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘domestic 

2 textile production gross receipts’ means the 

3 gross receipts of the taxpayer which are derived 

4 from any lease, rental, license, sale, exchange, 

5 or other disposition of textile fiber product (as 

6 defined in section 139K) which was manufac7 tured, produced, or grown by the taxpayer in 

8 whole or in significant part within the United 

9 States. 

10 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Such term shall not in11 clude any gross receipts— 

12 ‘‘(i) from the qualifying foreign sale 

13 (as defined in section 139K) of qualifying 

14 textile fiber products (as defined in such 

15 section), or 

16 ‘‘(ii) from activities described in sec17 tion 199B(b)(1)(A). 

18 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN GOV19 ERNMENT CONTRACTS.—Gross receipts derived 

20 from the manufacture or production of any 

21 property described in subparagraph (A) shall be 

22 treated as meeting the requirements of subpara23 graph (A) if— 


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•S 3878 IS

1 ‘‘(i) such property is manufactured or 

2 produced by the taxpayer pursuant to a 

3 contract with the Federal Government, and 

4 ‘‘(ii) the Federal Acquisition Regula5 tion requires that title or risk of loss with 

6 respect to such property be transferred to 

7 the Federal Government before the manu8 facture or production of such property is 

9 complete. 

10 ‘‘(D) PARTNERSHIPS OWNED BY EX11 PANDED AFFILIATED GROUPS.—For purposes 

12 of this paragraph, if all of the interests in the 

13 capital and profits of a partnership are owned 

14 by members of a single expanded affiliated 

15 group at all times during the taxable year of 

16 such partnership, the partnership and all mem17 bers of such group shall be treated as a single 

18 taxpayer during such period. 

19 ‘‘(5) RELATED PERSONS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘domestic 

21 textile production gross receipts’ shall not in22 clude any gross receipts of the taxpayer derived 

23 from property leased, licensed, or rented by the 

24 taxpayer for use by any related person. 


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•S 3878 IS

1 ‘‘(B) RELATED PERSON.—For purposes of 

2 subparagraph (A), a person shall be treated as 

3 related to another person if such persons are 

4 treated as a single employer under subsection 

5 (a) or (b) of section 52 or subsection (m) or (o) 

6 of section 414, except that determinations 

7 under subsections (a) and (b) of section 52 

8 shall be made without regard to section 

9 1563(b). 

10 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULE FOR AFFILIATED

12 GROUPS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—All members of an ex14 panded affiliated group shall be treated as a 

15 single corporation for purposes of this section. 

16 ‘‘(B) EXPANDED AFFILIATED GROUP.— 

17 For purposes of this section, the term ‘ex18 panded affiliated group’ means an affiliated 

19 group as defined in section 1504(a), deter20 mined— 

21 ‘‘(i) by substituting ‘more than 50 

22 percent’ for ‘at least 80 percent’ each place 

23 it appears, and 

24 ‘‘(ii) without regard to paragraphs (2) 

25 and (4) of section 1504(b). 


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1 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION OF DEDUCTION.—Ex2 cept as provided in regulations, the deduction 

3 under subsection (a) shall be allocated among 

4 the members of the expanded affiliated group in 

5 proportion to each member’s respective amount 

6 (if any) of qualified textile production activities 

7 income. 

8 ‘‘(2) TRADE OR BUSINESS REQUIREMENT.— 

9 This section shall be applied by only taking into ac10 count items which are attributable to the actual con11 duct of a trade or business. 

12 ‘‘(3) UNRELATED BUSINESS TAXABLE IN13 COME.—For purposes of determining the tax im14 posed by section 511, subsection (a)(1)(B) shall be 

15 applied by substituting ‘unrelated business taxable 

16 income’ for ‘taxable income’. 

17 ‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall pre18 scribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out 

19 the purposes of this section, including regulations 

20 which prevent more than 1 taxpayer from being al21 lowed a deduction under this section with respect to 

22 any activity described in subsection (c)(4)(A).’’. 

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 


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•S 3878 IS

1 (A)(i) Section 74(d)(2)(B) of the Internal 

2 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 

3 ‘‘251,’’ after ‘‘221,’’. 

4 (ii) Section 246(b)(1) of such Code is 

5 amended by inserting ‘‘251,’’ after 

6 ‘‘243(a)(1),’’. 

7 (iii) Section 469(i)(3)(E)(iii) of such Code 

8 is amended by inserting ‘‘251,’’ after ‘‘250,’’. 

9 (B) Section 170(b)(2)(D) of such Code is 

10 amended by striking the period at the end of 

11 clause (v) and inserting ‘‘, and’’ and by adding 

12 at the end the following new clause: 

13 ‘‘(vi) section 251.’’. 

14 (C) Section 172(d) of such Code, as 

15 amended by this Act, is amended by adding at 

16 the end the following new paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(11) The deduction under section 251 shall 

18 not be allowed.’’. 

19 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec20 tions for part VIII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of 

21 such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 251. Income attributable to domestic textile production activities.’’. 

23 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

24 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin25 ning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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•S 3878 IS

1 (c) DEDUCTION FOR REUSED AND RECYCLED TEX2 TILES.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part VI of subchapter B of 

4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 199B. TEXTILE REUSE AND RECYCLING ACTIVITY IN7 COME. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There shall be allowed a deduc9 tion equal to 15 percent of the qualified textile reuse and 

10 recycling activity income of the taxpayer for the taxable 

11 year. 

12 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED TEXTILE REUSE AND RECYCLING

13 ACTIVITY INCOME.—For purposes of this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified textile 

15 reuse and recycling activity income’ means the ex16 cess (if any) of— 

17 ‘‘(A) the gross income of the taxpayer de18 rived in the course of a trade or business 

19 from— 

20 ‘‘(i) the resale, repair, rental, or re21 manufacturing of finished textile products, 

22 ‘‘(ii) the transformation of otherwise 

23 unsalable textile fiber products into new 

24 finished or unfinished goods, 


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•S 3878 IS

1 ‘‘(iii) the collection of textile fiber 

2 products, 

3 ‘‘(iv) the sorting of finished textile 

4 products and textile fiber products for ac5 tivities described in clause (i) or (ii), and 

6 ‘‘(v) the preparation of textile fiber 

7 products for activities described in clause 

8 (ii), over 

9 ‘‘(B) the deductions (including taxes) prop10 erly allocable to such gross income. 

11 ‘‘(2) FINISHED TEXTILE PRODUCTS.—The term 

12 ‘finished textile products’ has the meaning given 

13 such term under section 139J(c). 

14 ‘‘(3) TEXTILE FIBER PRODUCTS.—The term 

15 ‘textile fiber products’ has the meaning given such 

16 term under section 139K(c). 

17 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION TO PARTNERSHIPS AND S

19 CORPORATIONS.—In the case of a partnership or S 

20 corporation— 

21 ‘‘(A) this section shall be applied at the 

22 partner or shareholder level, and 

23 ‘‘(B) each partner or shareholder shall 

24 take into account such person’s allocable share 


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•S 3878 IS

1 of each qualified item of income, gain, deduc2 tion, and loss. 

3 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION WITH MINIMUM TAX.—For 

4 purposes of determining alternative minimum tax5 able income under section 55, qualified textile reuse 

6 and recycling activity income shall be determined 

7 without regard to any adjustments under sections 56 

8 through 59.’’. 

9 (2) COORDINATION WITH DEDUCTION FOR

10 QUALIFIED BUSINESS INCOME.—Section 

11 199A(c)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

12 1986 is amended by redesignating clause (vii) as 

13 clause (viii) and by inserting after clause (vi) the fol14 lowing new clause: 

15 ‘‘(vii) Any item of income, gain, de16 duction, or loss taken into account under 

17 section 199B(b)(1).’’. 

18 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

19 (A)(i) Section 74(d)(2)(B) of the Internal 

20 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 

21 ‘‘199B,’’ after ‘‘137,’’. 

22 (ii) Section 86(b)(2)(A) of such Code is 

23 amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ after ‘‘137,’’. 

24 (iii) Section 135(c)(4)(A) of such Code is 

25 amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ after ‘‘137,’’. 


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•S 3878 IS

1 (iv) Section 137(b)(3)(A) of such Code is 

2 amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ before ‘‘221,’’. 

3 (v) Section 219(g)(3)(A)(ii) of such Code 

4 is amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ after ‘‘137,’’. 

5 (vi) Section 221(b)(2)(C)(i) of such Code 

6 is amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ before ‘‘911,’’. 

7 (vii) Section 246(b)(1) of such Code is 

8 amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ after ‘‘199A,’’. 

9 (viii) Section 469(i)(3)(E)(iii) of such Code 

10 is amended by inserting ‘‘199B,’’ before ‘‘219,’’. 

11 (B) Section 170(b)(2)(D) of such Code, as 

12 amended by subsection (b), is amended by 

13 striking the period at the end of clause (vi) and 

14 inserting ‘‘, and’’ and by adding at the end the 

15 following new clause: 

16 ‘‘(vii) section 199B.’’. 

17 (C) Section 172(d) of such Code, as 

18 amended by subsection (b), is amended by add19 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(12) The deduction under section 199B shall 

21 not be allowed.’’. 

22 (4) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec23 tions for part VI of subchapter B of chapter 1 of 

24 such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol25 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 199B. Textile reuse and recycling activity income.’’. 


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•S 3878 IS

1 (5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

2 by this subsection shall apply to taxable years begin3 ning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 235. TREATMENT OF FIBERS, FABRICS, AND YARNS 

5 NOT AVAILABLE IN COMMERCIAL QUAN6 TITIES IN AMERICAS PARTNER COUNTRIES. 

7 (a) MODIFICATIONS TO COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY

8 REQUEST PROCEDURES.— 

9 (1) REGULATIONS ON APPROVAL OF COMMER10 CIAL AVAILABILITY REQUESTS.—Not later than 180 

11 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

12 Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agree13 ments established by Executive Order 11651 (7 

14 U.S.C. 1854 note) (in this section referred to as the 

15 ‘‘Committee’’) shall prescribe regulations— 

16 (A) specifying the necessary conditions for 

17 the approval, in limited quantities, of commer18 cial availability requests under existing and fu19 ture free trade agreements with countries in the 

20 Western Hemisphere; and 

21 (B) providing for procedures for the ap22 proval of those requests. 

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1 cedures relating to commercial availability requests 

2 under free trade agreements in effect as of the date 

3 of the enactment of this Act with countries in the 

4 Western Hemisphere to require a producer of a 

5 fiber, yarn, or fabric that is the subject of such a 

6 request to produce a physical sample of the fiber, 

7 yarn, or fabric to its exact specification not later 

8 than 90 days after receiving a request to prove pro9 duction capability. 

10 (3) APPLICABILITY OF MODIFICATIONS.—A 

11 modification to conditions or procedures relating to 

12 commercial availability requests under paragraph (1) 

13 or (2) may only be applied to a commercial avail14 ability request relating to fiber, yarn, or fabric that 

15 will be used for further production in an Americas 

16 partner country. 

17 (b) STUDY ON CONSIDERATION OF PRICE IN COM18 MERCIAL AVAILABILITY REQUESTS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Inter20 national Trade Commission (in this section referred 

21 to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall— 

22 (A) conduct a study on if and how price 

23 should be among the criteria considered by the 

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1 ability of a fiber, yarn, or fabric in response to 

2 a commercial availability request; and 

3 (B) not later than 180 days after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act— 

5 (i) submit a report on the results of 

6 the study to the Committee on Finance of 

7 the Senate and the Committee on Ways 

8 and Means of the House of Representa9 tives; and 

10 (ii) publish the report on a publicly 

11 accessible internet website of the Commis12 sion. 

13 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the study 

14 required by paragraph (1), the Commission shall— 

15 (A) assess fibers, yarns, and fabrics indi16 vidually; and 

17 (B) consider not fewer than 10 fibers, 10 

18 yarns, and 10 fabrics, for sufficient sampling 

19 comparison. 

20 (c) AMERICAS PARTNER COUNTRY COMMERCIAL

21 AVAILABILITY LIST.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Under Sec23 retary of Commerce established under section 203(a) 

24 shall, as soon as practicable after the date of the en25 actment of this Act, establish an Americas partner 


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1 country commercial availability list for textile arti2 cles described in paragraph (2) and known, as of 

3 such date of enactment, to not be commercially 

4 available within Americas partner countries for pur5 poses of commercial availability requests. 

6 (2) TEXTILE ARTICLES DESCRIBED.—Textile 

7 articles described in this paragraph are the fol8 lowing: 

9 (A) Articles listed in Annex 3.25 of the 

10 Dominican Republic-Central America-United 

11 States Free Trade Agreement. 

12 (B) Articles listed in Annex 3–B of the 

13 United States-Colombia Trade Promotion 

14 Agreement. 

15 (C) Articles listed in Annex 3.25 of the 

16 United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agree17 ment. 

18 (D) Articles listed in Annex 3–B of the 

19 United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agree20 ment. 

21 (E) Articles listed in Appendix 1 to Annex 

22 4–A of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agree23 ment. 

24 (F) Certain knit fabrics of 100 percent 

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1 heading 6001.22.00 of the Harmonized Tariff 

2 Schedule of the United States. 

3 (G) Certain woven fabrics of 100 percent 

4 polyester classified under subheading 5407.52 

5 of that Schedule. 

6 (3) AUTOMATIC ADDITIONS.—An article de7 scribed in any of subparagraphs (A) through (D) of 

8 paragraph (2) after the date of the enactment of 

9 this Act shall automatically be added to the list es10 tablished under paragraph (1). 

11 (4) TIME ON LIST.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—An article described in 

13 any of subparagraphs (E) through (G) of para14 graph (2) shall be removed from the list estab15 lished under paragraph (1) on the date that is 

16 5 years after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act unless— 

18 (i) by that date, the article is covered 

19 by an annex specified in any of subpara20 graphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (2) 

21 or a comparable annex of a free trade 

22 agreement with a country in the Western 

23 Hemisphere entered into after such date of 

24 enactment; or 


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1 (ii) the Commissioner determines 

2 under subparagraph (B) that the article 

3 remains commercially unavailable in Amer4 icas partner countries. 

5 (B) INVESTIGATION.—After an article de6 scribed in any of subparagraphs (E) through 

7 (G) of paragraph (2) has been on the list estab8 lished under paragraph (1) for 4 years, the 

9 Commission may investigate whether the article 

10 remains commercially unavailable in Americas 

11 partner countries. 

12 (5) INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION DE13 TERMINATION.—Upon the request of a producer, in 

14 an Americas partner country, of an article on the 

15 list established under paragraph (1), the Deputy 

16 Under Secretary shall remove the article from the 

17 list if— 

18 (A) the Commission determines the article 

19 is commercially available in the United States; 

20 or 

21 (B) not later than 90 days after submit22 ting the request, the producer can provide to 

23 the Commission a physical sample to prove pro24 duction capability. 


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1 (6) PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA PRODUCT

2 EXCEPTION.—Fibers, yarns, and fabrics originating 

3 from the People’s Republic of China, as determined 

4 pursuant to section 102.21 of title 19, Code of Fed5 eral Regulations (or a successor regulation), are not 

6 eligible, in whole or in part, for inclusion on the list 

7 established under paragraph (1). 

8 (d) COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY REQUEST DE9 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘commercial availability 

10 request’’ means a request to modify the rules of origin 

11 with respect to a textile article under a free trade agree12 ment to address the lack of commercial availability of a 

13 fiber, yarn, or fabric in the countries that are parties to 

14 the agreement. 

15 CHAPTER 4—TRADE ENFORCEMENT 

16 SEC. 241. ESTABLISHMENT OF SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT 

17 UNIT OF U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PRO18 TECTION TO MONITOR THE IMPLEMENTA19 TION OF UYGHUR FORCED LABOR PREVEN20 TION ACT. 

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

22 Office of International Affairs of U.S. Customs and Bor23 der Protection a special enforcement unit tasked with 

24 monitoring the implementation by the United States of the 

25 Act entitled ‘‘An Act to ensure that goods made with 


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1 forced labor in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the 

2 People’s Republic of China do not enter the United States 

3 market, and for other purposes’’, approved December 23, 

4 2021 (Public Law 117–78; 135 Stat. 1525) (commonly 

5 referred to as the ‘‘Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention 

6 Act’’). 

7 (b) COORDINATION.—The special enforcement unit 

8 established under subsection (a) shall coordinate with the 

9 trade remedy law enforcement unit of U.S. Customs and 

10 Border Protection. 

11 (c) STAFF.— 

12 (1) AGENTS.—The special enforcement unit es13 tablished under subsection (a) shall deploy agents as 

14 necessary for the effective functioning of the unit. 

15 (2) POSITIONS AT EMBASSIES.—The special en16 forcement unit established under subsection (a) may 

17 deploy permanent NSDD–38 positions stationed at 

18 each embassy of the United States in an Americas 

19 partner country for the coordination of the efforts of 

20 the unit. 


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1 SEC. 242. AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENTS TO WHISTLE2 BLOWERS RELATING TO MONEY LAUN3 DERING OR ILLICIT FINANCIAL TRANS4 ACTIONS. 

5 The Executive Associate Director of Homeland Secu6 rity Investigations may pay to whistleblowers who disclose 

7 to the Secretary of Homeland Security any violations of 

8 laws prohibiting money laundering or illicit financial 

9 transactions an amount not to exceed 30 percent of the 

10 value of any assets seized in connection with such viola11 tions. 

12 SEC. 243. ESTABLISHMENT OF BORDERS AND PORTS PRO13 TECTION PROGRAM. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner, in consulta15 tion with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Home16 land Security, and the heads of such other Federal agen17 cies as the President considers appropriate, shall establish 

18 a program to be known as the Borders and Ports Protec19 tion Program (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Pro20 gram’’). 

21 (b) BORDERS AND PORTS PROTECTION UNIT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under the Program, the 

23 Commissioner shall assist Americas partner coun24 tries selected by the Commissioner in the establish25 ment of a borders and ports protection unit. 


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1 (2) CONSULTATION WITH CONGRESS.—In se2 lecting Americas partner countries under paragraph 

3 (1), the Commissioner shall consult with Congress. 

4 (c) ELEMENTS OF PROGRAM.—In carrying out the 

5 Program, the Commissioner may support the efforts of 

6 customs administrations and border security agencies of 

7 Americas partner countries selected under subsection (b) 

8 to create a borders and ports protection unit composed 

9 of a sufficient number of officers, including officers of the 

10 United States and officers of the Americas partner coun11 try, as identified by the Commissioner, who will— 

12 (1) report to the local customs administrations 

13 and border security agencies in that country; 

14 (2) be responsible for surge support and phys15 ical protection of borders, ports, strategic depots, 

16 hubs, and key commodities, such as basic foodstuffs, 

17 gasoline, diesel, and other strategic goods, in that 

18 country; 

19 (3) under the authority of officials in that coun20 try, carry out non-investigative customs functions, 

21 such as— 

22 (A) ensuring the effective continuity of 

23 port operations; 

24 (B) facilitating legitimate trade and com25 merce; and 


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1 (C) detecting and interdicting customs vio2 lations, such as illicit smuggling of contraband; 

3 (4) when cross-border violations of law are iden4 tified, notify and coordinate directly with customs 

5 and other law enforcement and security agencies in 

6 that country that are responsible for conducting in7 vestigations of illicit cross-border smuggling of8 fenses; 

9 (5) refer cross-border violations of law to the 

10 Transnational Criminal Investigative Units of 

11 Homeland Security Investigations; and 

12 (6) carry out any other duties identified by the 

13 Commissioner. 

14 (d) TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE

15 UNITS.—The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting 

16 through the Executive Associate Director of Homeland Se17 curity Investigations, shall establish Transnational Crimi18 nal Investigative Units in each Americas partner country. 

19 (e) TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT.—To the extent au20 thorized under existing provisions of law, the Commis21 sioner may provide to an Americas partner country se22 lected under subsection (b) training, oversight, equipment, 

23 and remuneration from U.S. Customs and Border Protec24 tion for the purposes specified in subsection (c) to provide 

25 lethal and non-lethal assistance, such as training and 


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1 equipment, including personal protective equipment, ar2 mored vehicles, and weapons, to entities that are— 

3 (1) identified by the local customs offices in 

4 that country; 

5 (2) coordinated and deconflicted through the 

6 law enforcement working group of the United States 

7 Embassy in that country; and 

8 (3) approved by the Commissioner. 

9 (f) MANAGEMENT.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Under the Program, the 

11 Commissioner, in coordination with the Secretary of 

12 State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

13 shall— 

14 (A) deploy officers of U.S. Customs and 

15 Border Protection to each Americas partner 

16 country selected under subsection (b), who 

17 shall— 

18 (i) report to the chief of mission; 

19 (ii) monitor the activities, on behalf of 

20 the Department of Homeland Security, of 

21 the borders and ports protection unit of 

22 that country; 

23 (iii) coordinate activities with— 


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1 (I) the law enforcement working 

2 group of the United States Embassy 

3 in that country; 

4 (II) the attache of Homeland Se5 curity Investigations covering that 

6 country; and 

7 (III) the Transnational Criminal 

8 Investigative Unit for that country; 

9 (iv) coordinate and deconflict all 

10 training and equipment requests with the 

11 law enforcement working group of the 

12 United States Embassy in that country 

13 and the attache of Homeland Security In14 vestigations covering that country; and 

15 (v) ensure that all cross-border viola16 tions of law are referred for investigation 

17 to the Transnational Criminal Investigative 

18 Unit for that country; and 

19 (B) hire a defense contractor that has 

20 completed all registrations and clearances re21 quired by the United States Government to de22 ploy a team of armed experts to assist in the 

23 recruitment, vetting, and training of agents of 

24 the borders and ports protection unit of that 

25 country. 


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1 (2) HIRING OF AGENTS.—When possible, the 

2 Secretary shall hire agents for the borders and ports 

3 protection unit of an Americas partner country se4 lected under subsection (b) from among agents of 

5 the security services of that country. 

6 (g) SECURITY ISSUES.—The Secretary of State shall 

7 enhance the security of borders and ports protection units 

8 established under this section by following the model of 

9 the Special Program for Embassy Augmentation Response 

10 (SPEAR) used by the Diplomatic Security Service to pro11 tect embassies of the United States and other facilities in 

12 high-threat environments. 

13 (h) REMUNERATION.—Under the Program, the Sec14 retary of State, working through the contractor hired pur15 suant to subsection (f)(1)(B), shall provide appropriate re16 muneration for agents of borders and ports protection 

17 units, including— 

18 (1) wages based on appropriate pay scales of 

19 the United Nations; and 

20 (2) a life insurance policy. 

21 (i) DESIGNATION OF UNITS IN NON-AMERICAS

22 PARTNER COUNTRIES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

24 provision of law, except as provided in paragraph 

25 (2), the President may designate a borders and 


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1 ports protection unit under the Program in a coun2 try that is not an Americas partner country selected 

3 under subsection (b) if the President determines 

4 that it is in the national security interest of the 

5 United States to do so. 

6 (2) EXCEPTION.—The President may not des7 ignate a borders and ports protection unit under the 

8 Program in a country that is a member of the 

9 Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America. 

10 (j) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 

12 Secretary of State shall submit to the Committee on Fi13 nance and the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov14 ernmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

15 Ways and Means of the House of Representatives a report 

16 on the Program. 

17 (k) COMMISSIONER DEFINED.—In this section, the 

18 term ‘‘Commissioner’’ means the Commissioner of U.S. 

19 Customs and Border Protection. 

20 SEC. 244. ESTABLISHMENT OF MUTUAL RECOGNITION 

21 AGREEMENTS AND TRADE TRANSPARENCY 

22 UNITS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—If not already in place with re24 spect to an Americas partner country, not later than one 

25 year after entering into a partnership agreement pursuant 


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1 to section 201 with that country, the Commissioner shall 

2 establish a mutual recognition agreement and a trade 

3 transparency unit with the customs administration of that 

4 country as part of the ongoing Customs and Trade Part5 nership Against Terrorism program of U.S. Customs and 

6 Border Protection. 

7 (b) PROCESS.—Immediately upon the date of the en8 actment of this Act, the Commissioner shall begin an expe9 dited process of establishing mutual recognition agree10 ments and trade transparency units between the United 

11 States and customs offices of Americas partner countries. 

12 (c) INTEROPERABILITY OF AGREEMENTS.—The 

13 Commissioner, in consultation with the Secretary of Com14 merce, shall ensure that data sharing conducted under a 

15 mutual recognition agreement established under this sec16 tion is interoperable with the e-governance system estab17 lished under title I. 

18 (d) HARMONIZATION OF DATA COLLECTED UNDER

19 AGREEMENTS.—In coordination with the Americas Part20 nership Business Advisory Board established under sec21 tion 202, trade and customs bodies shall harmonize col22 lected data under mutual recognition agreements entered 

23 into under this section, including data related to the fol24 lowing: 

25 (1) Weight. 


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1 (2) Quantity. 

2 (3) Value. 

3 (4) Elements necessary for imports and exports. 

4 (5) Common identifiers matching imports and 

5 exports. 

6 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis8 sioner’’ means the Commissioner of U.S. Customs 

9 and Border Protection. 

10 (2) MUTUAL RECOGNITION AGREEMENT.—The 

11 term ‘‘mutual recognition agreement’’ means a docu12 ment of arrangement between U.S. Customs and 

13 Border Protection and a customs administration of 

14 a foreign country that provides the platform for the 

15 exchange of membership information and recognizes 

16 the compatibility of the respective supply chain secu17 rity programs of that country and the United States. 

18 Subtitle C—Investment 

19 SEC. 251. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

20 It is the sense of Congress that— 

21 (1) Americas partner countries need significant 

22 investment in infrastructure and trade ecosystems to 

23 compete in the 21st century; 

24 (2) slave-based subsidized trade in the People’s 

25 Republic of China takes advantage of such need, 


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1 abusing the principles of free trade to advance the 

2 national security interests of the People’s Republic 

3 of China and predate upon other countries; 

4 (3) environmental degradation by the People’s 

5 Republic of China, especially through dirty, coal-pro6 duced electricity, gives products manufactured in the 

7 People’s Republic of China an unfair advantage over 

8 products manufactured in countries with inter9 nationally accepted environmental standards; 

10 (4) theft of intellectual property rights, World 

11 Trade Organization violations, and other abuses by 

12 the People’s Republic of China make competition 

13 with the Government of the People’s Republic of 

14 China and state-owned entities unbalanced; 

15 (5) a trade-based response to the trade behavior 

16 of the People’s Republic of China, which uses cor17 ruption and perverse incentives, must include invest18 ment incentives, retaliatory tariffs, fixing the de 

19 minimis trade loophole found in section 321 of the 

20 Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1321), which is effec21 tively a free trade agreement with the Chinese Com22 munist Party, and other offsets to catalyze move23 ment of supply chains and productivity back to the 

24 Western Hemisphere; and 


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1 (6) promoting development and challenging the 

2 People’s Republic of China will require flexibility, re3 sponsiveness, creativity, and risk-taking, which are 

4 the ethos of the investment corporation. 

5 SEC. 252. BUILD AMERICAS UNIT. 

6 Title I of the BUILD Act of 2018 (22 U.S.C. 9611 

7 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 

8 new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 1416. BUILD AMERICAS UNIT. 

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

11 Corporation a BUILD Americas Unit (in this division re12 ferred to as the ‘Unit’). 

13 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of the Unit are as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(1) To advance the interests of the United 

16 States Government. 

17 ‘‘(2) To near-shore industries from the People’s 

18 Republic of China. 

19 ‘‘(3) To support the development of large scale 

20 infrastructure ecosystems for the purposes of rapid 

21 industrialization of the Western Hemisphere. 

22 ‘‘(4) To support the relocation of strategic sup23 ply chains (as that term is defined in section 254 of 

24 the Americas Act). 


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1 ‘‘(c) COUNTRIES OF OPERATION.—The Unit shall op2 erate in all Americas partner countries (as that term is 

3 defined in section 2 of the Americas Act), without regard 

4 to the income limitations described in section 1412(c)(2). 

5 ‘‘(d) FUNDING.—Such sums as may be necessary to 

6 carry out this section shall be made available from the Re7 shoring and Near-shoring Account established under sec8 tion 301 and the amounts authorized under section 

9 212(a)(2) of the Americas Act. 

10 ‘‘(e) DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.— 

11 ‘‘(1) APPOINTMENT.—There shall be in the 

12 Unit, a Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the 

13 Americas (in this section referred to as the ‘Deputy 

14 Chief’), who shall be appointed by the President, by 

15 and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and 

16 who shall report to the Deputy Under Secretary of 

17 Commerce for the Americas Partnership. 

18 ‘‘(2) COMPENSATION.—The Deputy Chief shall 

19 be compensated at a rate equivalent to level I of the 

20 Executive Schedule under section 5312 of title 5, 

21 United States Code. 

22 ‘‘(f) PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY.— 

23 ‘‘(1) STAFFING.— 

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Without regard to any 

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1 erning the appointment of employees in the civil 

2 service, the Deputy Chief may appoint— 

3 ‘‘(i) such individuals as necessary to 

4 provide not fewer than 2 staff members 

5 from the Unit to each Americas partner 

6 country; 

7 ‘‘(ii) such individuals as necessary to 

8 serve as program managers under this sec9 tion; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) such other individuals as may be 

11 necessary to enable the Unit to perform its 

12 duties. 

13 ‘‘(B) PROGRAM MANAGER QUALIFICA14 TIONS.—Individuals appointed as program 

15 managers under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall 

16 have— 

17 ‘‘(i) demonstrated experience and ex18 pertise in securities in the private sector; 

19 ‘‘(ii) an appropriate securities license, 

20 as determined by the Deputy Chief; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) held the position of investment 

22 banker as commonly understood for hiring 

23 at private entities. 

24 ‘‘(2) COMPENSATION.—Notwithstanding any 

25 provision of title 5, United States Code, governing 


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1 the rates of pay or classification of employees in the 

2 executive branch, the Deputy Chief may prescribe 

3 the rates of basic pay for program managers ap4 pointed under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) at a rate not in 

5 excess of a rate equal to 150 percent of the max6 imum rate of basic pay authorized for positions at 

7 level I of the Executive Schedule under section 5312 

8 of title 5, United States Code. 

9 ‘‘(3) EVALUATIONS OF PROGRAM MANAGERS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Adminis11 trator for Programs shall establish criteria to 

12 evaluate the effectiveness of program managers, 

13 which shall include measuring the economic 

14 success of portfolio instruments approved by 

15 program managers. 

16 ‘‘(B) DISMISSAL.—Upon the determination 

17 that a program manager fails to meet the cri18 teria described in subparagraph (A), the Dep19 uty Administrator for Programs may rec20 ommend the dismissal of such program man21 ager, who may be dismissed at the discretion of 

22 the Chief Administrator. 

23 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON TERM OF APPOINT24 MENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraph (B), the service of a program 

3 manager appointed under paragraph (1)(A)(ii) 

4 may not exceed 5 years. 

5 ‘‘(B) EXTENSION.—The Deputy Chief 

6 may, in the case of a particular program man7 ager appointed under paragraph (1)(A)(ii), ex8 tend the period to which service is limited under 

9 subparagraph (A) by up to 2 years if the Dep10 uty Chief determines that such action is nec11 essary to promote the efficiency of the Unit, as 

12 applicable. 

13 ‘‘(g) AUTHORITIES RELATING TO PROVISION OF

14 SUPPORT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The authorities in this sub16 section shall only be exercised to— 

17 ‘‘(A) carry out of the policy of the United 

18 States in section 251 of the Americas Act and 

19 the purposes of the Unit in subsection (b); 

20 ‘‘(B) mitigate risks to United States tax21 payers by sharing risks with the private sector 

22 and qualifying sovereign entities through co-fi23 nancing and structuring of tools; and 

24 ‘‘(C) ensure that support provided under 

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1 sources by mobilizing private capital that would 

2 otherwise not be deployed without such support. 

3 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In exercising the au4 thorities in this subsection, the Unit— 

5 ‘‘(A) shall consider— 

6 ‘‘(i) whether an activity will maximize 

7 the profits of the entity receiving support 

8 under this subsection; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the potential return on invest10 ment of an activity; 

11 ‘‘(iii) the sustainability of the eco12 nomic model of the entity receiving support 

13 under this subsection; 

14 ‘‘(iv) any secondary economic impact 

15 of the activity and whether such impact 

16 will spur additional clusters of investment; 

17 ‘‘(v) whether taxation can be used to 

18 generate revenue for public entities receiv19 ing support under this subsection; and 

20 ‘‘(vi) the feasibility of economic suc21 cess for the entity receiving support under 

22 this subsection; and 

23 ‘‘(B) may not consider external factors 

24 that will not impact the economic success of an 

25 activity. 


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1 ‘‘(3) GRANTS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Unit may award 

3 grants to United States businesses and entities 

4 and governments in Americas partner countries 

5 under such terms and conditions as the Unit 

6 shall prescribe to carry out the purposes of the 

7 Americas Act. 

8 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION REQUIREMENT.—A 

9 grant under this paragraph may be made only 

10 to a United States business, a for profit or not11 for profit entity registered in an Americas part12 ner country, or a government of such a country 

13 (including a local government) that submits to 

14 the Unit an application at such time, in such 

15 manner, and containing or accompanied by 

16 such information as the Unit may reasonably 

17 require. 

18 ‘‘(C) PRIORITY.—In approving applications 

19 under this paragraph, the Unit shall give pri20 ority to applications that demonstrate the devel21 opment of a private sector activity that will ad22 vance the economic objectives of the Unit de23 scribed in subsection (b). 

24 ‘‘(D) APPROVAL LIMITS.—Under this para25 graph— 


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1 ‘‘(i) program managers may approve 

2 grants of not more than $4,999,999; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the Deputy Chief may approve 

4 grants of not less than $5,000,000 and not 

5 more than $49,999,999; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) the Deputy Assistant Secretary 

7 for the Americas Partnership may approve 

8 grants of not less than $50,000,000. 

9 ‘‘(E) REPORTING.— 

10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Unit shall— 

11 ‘‘(I) use the e-governance frame12 work established under title I for 

13 management of and reporting on 

14 grants; and 

15 ‘‘(II) protect all restricted per16 sonal information (as that term is de17 fined in section 119 of title 18, 

18 United States Code) collected under 

19 clause (ii). 

20 ‘‘(ii) COLLECTION OF INFORMA21 TION.—The Corporation shall carry out 

22 clause (i) by collecting information with re23 spect to each such grant, including— 

24 ‘‘(I) the beneficiary of the grant; 

25 ‘‘(II) the amount; 


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1 ‘‘(III) the location of activities 

2 funded by the grant; 

3 ‘‘(IV) a description of the activi4 ties funded by the grant; 

5 ‘‘(V) a justification for approving 

6 the grant; 

7 ‘‘(VI) the amount of funds pro8 vided for an activity by the beneficiary 

9 of the grant; 

10 ‘‘(VII) a description of any other 

11 financial support from the Unit; 

12 ‘‘(VIII) a description of how 

13 awarding the grant is anticipated to 

14 combat the influence of the People’s 

15 Republic of China in the Western 

16 Hemisphere; and 

17 ‘‘(IX) a description of how the 

18 grant overlaps with any other finan19 cial support provided by persons other 

20 than the Unit. 

21 ‘‘(4) LOANS AND GUARANTIES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Unit may make 

23 loans or guaranties in accordance with the 

24 guidelines in subparagraph (B) and upon such 

25 other terms and conditions as the Deputy AsVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Mar 13, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00124 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3878.IS S3878

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1 sistant Secretary for the Americas Partnership 

2 may determine. 

3 ‘‘(B) GUIDELINES FOR THE ISSUANCE OF

4 LOANS.— 

5 ‘‘(i) APPROVAL LIMITS.—Under this 

6 paragraph— 

7 ‘‘(I) program managers may ap8 prove loans and guaranties of not 

9 more than $4,999,999; 

10 ‘‘(II) the Deputy Chief may ap11 prove loans and guaranties of not less 

12 than $5,000,000 and not more than 

13 $49,999,999; and 

14 ‘‘(III) the Deputy Assistant Sec15 retary for the Americas Partnership 

16 may approve loans and guaranties of 

17 not less than $50,000,000. 

18 ‘‘(ii) LOAN AVAILABILITY.— 

19 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Any loan 

20 made or guaranteed under this para21 graph may be issued to— 

22 ‘‘(aa) a United States busi23 ness; 

24 ‘‘(bb) a for-profit entity in 

25 an Americas partner country; or 


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1 ‘‘(cc) a government of an 

2 Americas partner country (in3 cluding a local government). 

4 ‘‘(II) EXCEPTION.—Notwith5 standing subclause (I), a loan may be 

6 made or guaranteed by the Unit to a 

7 country that is not an Americas part8 ner country if the purpose of the loan 

9 is to support near-shoring of strategic 

10 supply chains under section 254 of 

11 the Americas Act. 

12 ‘‘(III) LINES OF CREDIT.—The 

13 Unit may provide a line of credit of 

14 not more than $50,000,000 to a 

15 United States business that meets 

16 such requirements as the Deputy As17 sistant Secretary for the Americas 

18 Partnership may determine. 

19 ‘‘(iii) INTEREST RATES.— 

20 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A loan made 

21 or guaranteed under this paragraph 

22 may bear an interest rate lower than 

23 the rate for an equivalent loan avail24 able in the local market. 


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1 ‘‘(II) VARIABLE INTEREST

2 RATES.—For each loan made or guar3 anteed under this paragraph, the Sec4 retary of the Treasury shall make 

5 available to the Unit, at a variable in6 terest rate that is not less than zero 

7 percent, funds from the amounts au8 thorized under section 212(a)(2) of 

9 the Americas Act. 

10 ‘‘(III) DEPOSITS TO TREAS11 URY.—For each direct loan made by 

12 the Unit to a covered entity, the Unit 

13 shall remit— 

14 ‘‘(aa) any repayment on the 

15 principal amount, including the 

16 final repayment and liquidation 

17 of the loan, and any amount of 

18 interest required by the Secretary 

19 of the Treasury in accordance 

20 with subclause (II) to the Sec21 retary of the Treasury, who shall 

22 use such amounts to replenish 

23 the amounts authorized under 

24 section 212(a)(2) of the Americas 

25 Act; and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) any profit made from 

2 interest above the amount re3 quired by rate of interest estab4 lished by the Secretary of the 

5 Treasury under subclause (II) to 

6 the Secretary of the Treasury, 

7 who shall deposit such amounts 

8 into the Re-shoring and Near9 shoring Account established 

10 under section 301 of the Amer11 icas Act. 

12 ‘‘(iv) DENOMINATION.—Loans and 

13 guaranties made under this paragraph may 

14 be denominated and repayable in United 

15 States dollars or foreign currencies. For16 eign currency denominated loans and guar17 anties should only be provided if the Dep18 uty Assistant Secretary for the Americas 

19 Partnership determines there is a sub20 stantive policy rationale for such loans and 

21 guaranties. 

22 ‘‘(v) GUARANTIES BY TREASURY.— 

23 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For any loan 

24 under this paragraph, the Unit shall 

25 hold in an escrow account funds in an 


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1 amount that is equal to 5 percent of 

2 the principal amount of the loan for 

3 the life of the loan or until the loan 

4 has been repaid. 

5 ‘‘(II) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—The 

6 funds described in subclause (I) shall 

7 be taken from the Re-shoring and 

8 Near-shoring Account established 

9 under section 301 of the Americas 

10 Act. 

11 ‘‘(vi) APPLICABILITY OF FEDERAL

12 CREDIT REFORM ACT OF 1990.—Loans and 

13 guaranties issued under paragraph (1) 

14 shall be subject to the requirements of the 

15 Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 

16 U.S.C. 661 et seq.). 

17 ‘‘(5) EQUITY INVESTMENTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the 

19 sense of Congress that— 

20 ‘‘(i) equity is essential, particularly 

21 with respect to transformational technology 

22 in the energy and technology sectors; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) firms engaged in complex, ad24 vanced manufacturing production require 


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1 greater capital and more time than non2 production firms. 

3 ‘‘(B) IN GENERAL.—The Unit may, as an 

4 investor, support projects with funds or use 

5 other mechanisms for the purpose of pur6 chasing, and may make and fund commitments 

7 to purchase, invest in, make pledges in respect 

8 of, or otherwise acquire, equity or quasi-equity 

9 securities or shares or financial interests of any 

10 entity, including as a limited partner or other 

11 investor in investment funds, upon such terms 

12 and conditions as the Unit may determine. 

13 ‘‘(C) FUNDING.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose 

15 of investments under subparagraph (B), 

16 the Unit shall use the amounts authorized 

17 under section 212(a)(2) of the Americas 

18 Act. 

19 ‘‘(ii) ESCROW.—For any investment 

20 under this paragraph, the Unit shall hold 

21 in an escrow account funds, which shall be 

22 taken from the Re-shoring and Near-shor23 ing Account established under section 301 

24 of the Americas Act, in an amount that is 


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1 equal to 5 percent of the amount of funds 

2 invested. 

3 ‘‘(iii) LIQUIDATION.—Upon liquida4 tion of any investment, the unit shall 

5 remit— 

6 ‘‘(I) the principal amount and 

7 any amount of interest required by 

8 the Secretary for the use of such prin9 cipal amount of such investment to 

10 the Secretary of the Treasury who 

11 shall use such amounts to replenish 

12 the amounts authorized under section 

13 212(a)(2) of the Americas Act; and 

14 ‘‘(II) any profit gained from and 

15 the amount held in escrow in accord16 ance with clause (ii) for such invest17 ment to the Secretary of the Treasury 

18 who shall deposit such funds in the 

19 Re-Shoring and Near-Shoring Ac20 count established under section 301 of 

21 that Act. 

22 ‘‘(D) LIMITATIONS ON EQUITY INVEST23 MENTS.— 

24 ‘‘(i) CONTRIBUTIONS BY PARTNERS.— 

25 Any investment made by the Unit under 


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1 this paragraph shall be accompanied by an 

2 investment of not less than 51 percent by 

3 the United States business or entity or 

4 government of an Americas partner coun5 try. 

6 ‘‘(ii) PER PROJECT LIMIT.—The ag7 gregate amount of equity investment by 

8 the Unit with respect to any project shall 

9 not exceed 49 percent. 

10 ‘‘(6) JOINT INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Unit may enter 

12 into joint investment partnerships with inter13 national financial institutions or other similar 

14 institutions, including the World Bank and the 

15 Andean Development Corporation-Development 

16 Bank of Latin America. 

17 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding sub18 paragraph (A), the Unit may not enter into any 

19 partnership with any person, including any fi20 nancial institution, business, organization, or 

21 individual, that is headquartered in, has a prin22 cipal place of business in, or is otherwise di23 rectly or indirectly owned or controlled by of 

24 the government of the Russian Federation, the 

25 People’s Republic of China, or any member 


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1 country of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peo2 ples of Our America (ALBA). 

3 ‘‘(C) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITU4 TIONS DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the term 

5 ‘international financial institutions’ has the 

6 meaning given that term in section 1701(c)(2) 

7 of the International Financial Institutions Act 

8 (22 U.S.C. 262r(c)(2)). 

9 ‘‘(7) INSURANCE AND REINSURANCE.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In order to ensure the 

11 protection of the investments of United States 

12 businesses, in whole or in part, against any po13 litical risks, such as currency inconvertibility 

14 and transfer restrictions, expropriation, war, 

15 terrorism, civil disturbance, breach of contract, 

16 and nonhonoring of financial obligations, the 

17 Unit may issue to United States businesses that 

18 invest in Americas partner countries insurance 

19 or reinsurance— 

20 ‘‘(i) upon such terms and conditions 

21 as the Unit may determine; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) at 100 percent of the value of 

23 the insured investment. 

24 ‘‘(B) ESCROW.—For any insurance or re25 insurance described in subparagraph (A), the 


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1 Unit shall hold in an escrow account at a com2 mercial bank funds, which shall be taken from 

3 the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account es4 tablished under section 301 of the Americas 

5 Act, in an amount that is equal to 5 percent of 

6 the insurance amount. 

7 ‘‘(C) RATES.—Any insurance or reinsur8 ance described in subparagraph (A) may be 

9 issued at a lower rate than the lowest available 

10 rate for equivalent insurance or reinsurance in 

11 the local market.’’. 

12 SEC. 253. AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP ENTERPRISE FUND. 

13 (a) DESIGNATION.—The President, after consulta14 tion with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 

15 the minority leader of the House of Representatives, the 

16 majority leader of the Senate, the minority leader of the 

17 Senate, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Com18 merce, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Adminis19 trator of the United States Agency for International De20 velopment, may designate a private, nonprofit organiza21 tion registered in an Americas partner country that is es22 tablished to carry out the purposes set forth in subsection 

23 (b) as the ‘‘Americas Partnership Enterprise Fund’’ (re24 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Fund’’). 

25 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Fund are— 


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1 (1) to support the development of ecosystems 

2 for critical supply chains in the Americas partner 

3 countries; 

4 (2) to support the development of private sector 

5 responses to migration; 

6 (3) to promote near-shoring strategic industry 

7 and supply chains from the People’s Republic of 

8 China; and 

9 (4) to support policies and practices conducive 

10 to private sector development in Americas partner 

11 countries through loans, grants, equity investments, 

12 feasibility studies, technical assistance, training, in13 surance, guarantees, and other measures. 

14 (c) GOVERNANCE.— 

15 (1) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall be gov17 erned by a Board of Directors, consisting of 3, 

18 4, or 5 individuals described in subparagraph 

19 (C). 

20 (B) APPOINTMENTS.—Not later than 90 

21 days after the date of the enactment of this 

22 Act, the President shall— 

23 (i) appoint the initial members of the 

24 Board of Directors, subject to the advice 

25 and consent of the Senate; and 


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1 (ii) submit the names of such ap2 pointees to the Chair and Ranking Member 

3 of the Subcommittee on International 

4 Trade, Customs, and Global Competitive5 ness of the Committee on Finance of the 

6 Senate. 

7 (C) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member of 

8 the Board of Directors— 

9 (i) shall be a citizen of an Americas 

10 partner country; 

11 (ii) may not be closely affiliated with 

12 any government, civil society organization, 

13 academic institution, think tank, or any 

14 other not-for-profit entity; and 

15 (iii) shall have demonstrated experi16 ence and expertise in the areas of private 

17 sector development in which the Fund is to 

18 be involved. 

19 (D) TERM.—Each member of the Board of 

20 Directors shall serve for a term of 5 years. 

21 (E) CHAIRPERSON.—At its first meeting, 

22 the Board of Directors shall elect a Chair23 person, who may only serve in such position for 

24 a single term. 


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1 (F) MEETINGS.—The Board of Directors 

2 shall meet not less frequently than quarterly. 

3 (G) APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTIVE DIREC4 TOR.—The Board of Directors shall unani5 mously appoint a qualified individual to serve as 

6 Executive Director of the Fund. The Executive 

7 Director shall be compensated at a rate equiva8 lent to level V of the Executive Schedule under 

9 section 5316 of title 5, United States Code. 

10 (H) VACANCIES.—If a vacancy occurs be11 fore the expiration of the term of a member of 

12 the Board of Directors, the President shall ap13 point an individual with the qualifications de14 scribed in subparagraph (C) to fill the remain15 der of such term, in the manner described in 

16 subparagraph (B). 

17 (2) STAFFING.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall hire 

19 sufficient host country nationals to staff the 

20 central office to ensure that Fund resources are 

21 managed appropriately and to carry out the 

22 day-to-day operations of the central office, in23 cluding— 

24 (i) program managers, who— 


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1 (I) shall head the core manage2 ment unit; 

3 (II) may approve program ex4 penditures of up to $150,000; and 

5 (III) shall be evaluated primarily 

6 on the success of their respective port7 folios; and 

8 (ii) additional support staff, provided 

9 that not more than 25 percent of the 

10 Fund’s annual expenditures are used for 

11 staffing and administration. 

12 (B) ETHICS OFFICER.—The Fund shall 

13 have an ethics officer, who— 

14 (i) shall be responsible for oversight of 

15 the host country nationals; 

16 (ii) shall develop ethical standards for 

17 the management of the Fund; 

18 (iii) shall facilitate the mainstreaming 

19 of ethics with respect to the staff of the 

20 Fund; 

21 (iv) may evaluate individual activities, 

22 as needed; and 

23 (v) should develop standard invest24 ment procedures that do not affect the 


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1 flexibility and speed of the investment ac2 tivities. 

3 (C) PARTNERS.—The Fund shall partner 

4 with local entities, wholly-owned subsidiaries, 

5 and other instruments, as appropriate, to carry 

6 out investment activities in Americas partner 

7 countries, under the supervision of the central 

8 office. 

9 (3) LIMITATION ON COMPENSATION.—None of 

10 the amounts managed by the Fund may be used to 

11 provide any benefit to any member of the Board of 

12 Directors or to any officer or employee of the Fund, 

13 other than a reasonable salary as compensation for 

14 services rendered. 

15 (d) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS.— 

16 (1) DEFINED TERM.—In this subsection, the 

17 term ‘‘qualified private sector entity’’ means a busi18 ness organization that is duly registered in the 

19 United States or in an Americas partner country. 

20 (2) IN GENERAL.—The Fund may provide 

21 grants, loans, technical assistance, goods, and serv22 ices to qualified private sector entities, in accordance 

23 with paragraphs (3) through (7), for programs and 

24 projects that are consistent with the purposes de25 scribed in subsection (b). 


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1 (3) GRANTS.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall estab3 lish a process for awarding grants to qualified 

4 private sector entities to carry out activities 

5 that are consistent with the purposes described 

6 in subsection (b). 

7 (B) SELECTION OF GRANTEES.—Not later 

8 than 20 working days after receiving an appli9 cation for a grant under this paragraph, the 

10 Fund shall complete its review and evaluation 

11 of the application, using anticipated return on 

12 investment as the sole criterion for determining 

13 whether a grant will be awarded to the appli14 cant. 

15 (4) LOANS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall estab17 lish a process for providing low-interest loans to 

18 qualified private sector entities to carry out ac19 tivities that are consistent with the purposes de20 scribed in subsection (b). Loans authorized 

21 under this paragraph may be offered in the 

22 form of equity if the Fund determines that such 

23 form is appropriate. 

24 (B) SELECTION OF LOAN RECIPIENTS.— 

25 Not later than 20 working days after receiving 


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1 an application for a loan under this paragraph, 

2 the Fund shall complete its review and evalua3 tion of the application, using anticipated return 

4 on investment as the sole criterion for deter5 mining whether a loan will be awarded to the 

6 applicant. 

7 (C) PARTNERSHIPS WITH COMMERCIAL

8 BANKS.—The Fund may enter into partner9 ships with commercial banks to manage loan 

10 portfolios under this paragraph. 

11 (5) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund, with sup13 port from United States entities, such as the 

14 United States Trade and Development Agency 

15 and other agencies or offices based in the 

16 United States, may hire or contract with indi17 viduals and entities capable of providing tech18 nical assistance in support of the purposes de19 scribed in subsection (b). 

20 (B) SELECTION OF TECHNICAL ASSIST21 ANCE RECIPIENTS.—Not later than 20 working 

22 days after receiving an application for technical 

23 assistance under this paragraph, the Fund shall 

24 complete its review and evaluation of the appli25 cation, using anticipated return on investment 


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•S 3878 IS

1 as the sole criterion for determining whether 

2 the requested technical assistance will be 

3 awarded to the applicant. 

4 (C) ELIGIBLE PARTNER COUNTRIES.— 

5 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 

6 United States Trade and Development Agency 

7 may work in any Americas partner country re8 gardless of income status designation. 

9 (D) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA10 TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 

11 to the United States Trade and Development 

12 Agency $10,000,000, which shall be expended 

13 on activities related to partnership agreements 

14 entered into under section 201. 

15 (6) GOODS AND SERVICES.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund may directly 

17 procure and deploy goods and services to the 

18 extent required to support the purposes de19 scribed in subsection (b). 

20 (B) SELECTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES

21 RECIPIENTS.—Not later than 20 working days 

22 after receiving an application for goods or serv23 ices under this paragraph, the Fund shall com24 plete its review and evaluation of the applica25 tion, using anticipated return on investment as 


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1 the sole criterion for determining whether the 

2 requested goods or services will be provided to 

3 the applicant. 

4 (7) GOVERNMENT SUPPORT.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund may provide 

6 cash and in-kind goods or services to foreign 

7 governmental entities in order to advance the 

8 purposes described in subsection (b). 

9 (B) SELECTION OF GOVERNMENT RECIPI10 ENTS.—Not later than 20 working days after 

11 receiving an application from a foreign govern12 ment for cash or in-kind goods or services 

13 under this paragraph, the Fund shall complete 

14 its review and evaluation of such application. 

15 (e) FUNDING.— 

16 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—During the first fiscal 

17 year beginning after the date of the enactment of 

18 this Act, the Fund shall receive $1,000,000,000 

19 from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account es20 tablished under section 301 for initial capitalization. 

21 The Fund may be recapitalized in accordance with 

22 paragraph (4). 

23 (2) FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS.—In order to 

24 maximize the resources available to carry out the ac25 tivities authorized under this Act, the Fund should 


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•S 3878 IS

1 establish financial instruments that enable private 

2 businesses in Americas partner countries with a 

3 commercial nexus in the United States to effectively 

4 multiply the impact of United States grants awarded 

5 by the Fund. 

6 (3) DISTRIBUTION OF RETURN ON INVEST7 MENTS.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Fund may dis9 tribute financial returns on Fund investments, 

10 include private venture capital, equity, or loan 

11 repayments, at such times and in such amounts 

12 as the Board of Directors may determine, to 

13 the central account of the Fund. 

14 (B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense 

15 of Congress that the return on investment de16 scribed in subparagraph (A) should— 

17 (i) recapitalize the central account of 

18 the Fund; 

19 (ii) guarantee the sustainability of the 

20 Fund; 

21 (iii) limit the need for additional ap22 propriations to the Fund; 

23 (iv) spur additional investment; 

24 (v) promote small and medium-sized 

25 enterprises; 


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1 (vi) advance good governance and 

2 transparency; and 

3 (vii) promote job creation. 

4 (4) ADDITIONAL REVENUE.—After 80 percent 

5 of the initial capital in the Fund has been expended 

6 pursuant to paragraph (1), the Board of Directors 

7 may request additional capital for the Fund by— 

8 (A) submitting a request to the Re-shoring 

9 and Near-shoring Account that identifies the 

10 additional amount needed for the Fund; and 

11 (B) submitting a report to Congress that 

12 details the Fund’s activities and justifies the 

13 need for the additional capital. 

14 (5) NONAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.—Not15 withstanding any other provision of law, amounts 

16 appropriated pursuant to this subsection may be 

17 made available to the Fund and used for the pur18 poses set forth in this section. 

19 (f) LIMITATIONS ON ASSISTANCE.— 

20 (1) MAJOR EXPENDITURES.—The Fund may 

21 not provide any grant, loan, technical assistance, or 

22 government support valued in excess of $499,999 

23 unless the Board of Directors approves such action 

24 in advance. 


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1 (2) RECORDKEEPING.—The Fund shall use the 

2 e-governance platform to maintain a database con3 taining relevant information, as established by the 

4 Secretary of Commerce, regarding activities of the 

5 Fund, which shall be accessible by any member of 

6 the Board of Directors at any time. 

7 (3) MINOR EXPENDITURES.—A member of the 

8 Board of Directors may not approve, deny, or influ9 ence the approval or denial of an expenditure by the 

10 Fund valued at less than $500,000 unless the Board 

11 of Directors determines that the individual author12 ized to approve or deny such expenditure, subject to 

13 the thresholds under this section, has engaged in 

14 independently verified malfeasance. 

15 (g) ANNUAL REPORTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall submit an 

17 annual report to the Board of Directors that— 

18 (A) describes the status of the registration 

19 and management of the Fund; 

20 (B) identifies the activities undertaken by 

21 the Fund, disaggregated by activity type, coun22 try, and strategic sector; and 

23 (C) details the successes and failures of 

24 such activities. 


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1 (2) CONGRESS.—The Board of Directors shall 

2 annually submit— 

3 (A) to Congress a copy of each report re4 ceived pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

5 (B) to the Committee on Finance of the 

6 Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means 

7 of the House of Representatives a chapter with8 in the comprehensive Department of Commerce 

9 report that identifies, for the reporting period— 

10 (i) the number of grants, loans, in11 stances of technical assistance, goods and 

12 services, and other Government support 

13 provided by the Fund; 

14 (ii) the repayment rates for the loans 

15 and other support referred to in clause (i); 

16 (iii) a summary of activities conducted 

17 by the Fund; 

18 (iv) the countries in which the Fund 

19 is conducting such activities; 

20 (v) success stories involving entities 

21 receiving assistance from the Fund; 

22 (vi) lessons learned from the activities 

23 conducted by the Fund; and 


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1 (vii) any other information contained 

2 in other reports required under this Act 

3 that relates to the Fund. 

4 (h) AUDITS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than an6 nually, the activities of the Fund shall be subject to 

7 an audit by an independent private entity selected by 

8 the Board of Directors. 

9 (2) REPORT.— 

10 (A) FINDINGS.—Each independent private 

11 entity referred to in paragraph (1) shall submit 

12 a report to the Board of Directors that contains 

13 the findings of the audit conducted pursuant to 

14 such paragraph. 

15 (B) PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY.—The Board 

16 of Directors shall post the report received pur17 suant to subparagraph (A) on the Fund’s pub18 licly accessible website. 

19 (i) DURATION.—The Fund shall remain operational 

20 indefinitely. Venture capital profits, equity, and loan inter21 est shall be returned to the central account of the Fund, 

22 with the goal that the Fund become self-sufficient. 

23 (j) NONAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.—Notwith24 standing any other provision of law, executive branch 


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•S 3878 IS

1 agencies may conduct programs and activities and provide 

2 services in support of the activities of the Fund. 

3 SEC. 254. NEAR-SHORING OF STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAINS 

4 AND TRANSFORMATIONAL ENERGY INVEST5 MENTS. 

6 (a) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

7 United States— 

8 (1) to advance United States national security 

9 goals and hemispheric foreign policy and develop10 ment goals by assisting countries in the Western 

11 Hemisphere to establish the ecosystems necessary to 

12 host strategic industries in order to reduce 

13 vulnerabilities of the United States, in particular 

14 with respect to supply chains based, as of the date 

15 of the enactment of this Act, in the People’s Repub16 lic of China; 

17 (2) to the maximum extent practicable, to seek 

18 to identify development opportunities and engage in 

19 early-stage project support to promote trans20 formational energy projects to increase competitive21 ness in the energy sector in the Western Hemi22 sphere; and 

23 (3) to reduce the influence of the People’s Re24 public of China in the Western Hemisphere. 


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1 (b) IDENTIFICATION OF STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAINS, 

2 PRODUCTS, AND ENTITIES AND TRANSFORMATIONAL EN3 ERGY INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES.— 

4 (1) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 

5 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

6 annually thereafter, the Secretary of State, through 

7 the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the 

8 Americas Partnership established under section 

9 203(c)(1), and in coordination with the United 

10 States Trade Representative, the Secretary of Com11 merce, the Secretary of Energy, and other appro12 priate officials, shall submit to Congress a report 

13 identifying— 

14 (A) supply chains identified under Execu15 tive Order 14017 (86 Fed. Reg. 11849; relating 

16 to America’s supply chains), as amended on or 

17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, lo18 cated in the Western Hemisphere (in this sec19 tion referred to as ‘‘strategic supply chains’’); 

20 (B) products produced by such supply 

21 chains; 

22 (C) entities that are part of such supply 

23 chains; and 

24 (D) opportunities for transformational en25 ergy investments in Americas partner countries. 


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1 (2) OPPORTUNITIES FOR NEAR-SHORING AND

2 TRANSFORMATIONAL ENERGY INVESTMENTS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The report required by 

4 paragraph (1) shall list— 

5 (i) opportunities for— 

6 (I) near-shoring of products with7 in strategic supply chains; and 

8 (II) transformational energy in9 vestments in Americas partner coun10 tries; and 

11 (ii) support for such near-shoring and 

12 energy investments identified under sub13 section (c). 

14 (B) CONSULTATIONS.—In identifying op15 portunities for near-shoring and energy invest16 ments under this subsection, the Secretary— 

17 (i) shall consult with United States in18 dustry to obtain feasibility studies, viability 

19 plans, and letters of commitment relating 

20 to such opportunities; and 

21 (ii) may issue requests for information 

22 relating to such opportunities to determine 

23 the needs of industry with respect to near24 shoring strategic supply chains. 


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1 (3) WORK PLAN.—The report required by para2 graph (1) shall include a work plan setting forth a 

3 prioritization for the near-shoring of products within 

4 strategic supply chains and for transformational en5 ergy investments, including the tools to be used and 

6 the authorities to be exercised in the implementation 

7 of such near-shoring and energy investments as part 

8 of a special economic initiative under subsection (d). 

9 (c) IDENTIFICATION AND SUPPORT FOR NEAR-SHOR10 ING OF PRODUCTS IN STRATEGIC SUPPLY CHAINS AND

11 FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL ENERGY INVESTMENTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce, 

13 in consultation with the Secretary of State and the 

14 heads of other relevant Federal agencies— 

15 (A) shall, in partnership with industry and 

16 stakeholders, identify opportunities that would 

17 be appropriate for near-shoring or for trans18 formational energy investments; and 

19 (B) may provide funding to support such 

20 opportunities as provided in this title. 

21 (2) PREFERENCES.—In selecting among oppor22 tunities that will receive funding under paragraph 

23 (1), the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 

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1 evant Federal agencies, shall give preference to op2 portunities that— 

3 (A) have the support of the government of 

4 the country in which the production of the 

5 product or energy investment will take place; 

6 and 

7 (B) can attract private investment. 

8 (3) PRODUCTION IN NON-AMERICAS PARTNER

9 COUNTRIES.—The Secretary of Commerce may pro10 vide funding under this subsection to near-shore the 

11 production of a product identified under subsection 

12 (b)(1)(B) to a country that is not an Americas part13 ner country if the Secretary determines and certifies 

14 to Congress that there are no opportunities appro15 priate for re-shoring or near-shoring to Americas 

16 partner countries. 

17 (4) ENERGY INVESTMENT IN NON-AMERICAS

18 PARTNER COUNTRIES.—The Secretary of Commerce, 

19 in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, may 

20 provide funding for a transformational energy 

21 project in a country that is not an Americas partner 

22 country if the Secretary notifies Congress of the in23 tention of the Secretary to provide the funding be24 fore providing the funding. 

25 (d) SPECIAL ECONOMIC INITIATIVE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish 

2 a special economic initiative for strategic supply 

3 chains and transformational energy investments, to 

4 be administered by the Department of Commerce, 

5 under which the tools described in the provisions of 

6 and amendments made by this subtitle and subtitle 

7 D are made available to Americas partner countries 

8 and such other countries as the President considers 

9 appropriate. 

10 (2) NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS; PLAN.—Not 

11 less than 15 days before exercising the authority 

12 provided by paragraph (1) to establish a special eco13 nomic initiative with respect to a country, the Presi14 dent shall— 

15 (A) notify Congress of the intention of the 

16 President to exercise that authority; and 

17 (B) submit to Congress a plan for the ini18 tiative, which shall include a description of— 

19 (i) the sector involved; 

20 (ii) the projects involved; 

21 (iii) an analysis, including environ22 mental analysis, available with respect to 

23 the initiative; 


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1 (iv) the agreement with the govern2 ment of the country with respect to the ini3 tiative; and 

4 (v) the cost of the initiative. 

5 (3) AUTHORITY TO ENTER INTO AGREE6 MENTS.—The President may enter into agreements 

7 using authorities of Federal agencies, including the 

8 Department of State, the United States Agency for 

9 International Development, the Department of Com10 merce, the Department of Defense, the Department 

11 of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, the De12 partment of Health and Human Services, or any 

13 other authorities the President considers appro14 priate, to advance a special economic initiative under 

15 paragraph (1). 

16 (4) WAIVER OF COMPETITION REQUIRE17 MENTS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The President may 

19 waive the requirements of title 41, United 

20 States Code, relating to competition in the 

21 awarding of Government contracts in the case 

22 of a contract related to the near-shoring of 

23 strategic supply chains or transformational en24 ergy investments through a special economic 

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1 cer of the agency seeking to enter into the con2 tract evaluates the contract and the certifies 

3 that there are no conflicts of interest. 

4 (B) TIMING OF EVALUATION.—An ethics 

5 officer shall have not less than 20 business days 

6 to conduct an evaluation described in subpara7 graph (A). 

8 (5) ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR NEAR-SHORING

9 AND TRANSFORMATIONAL ENERGY INVESTMENTS

10 UNDER SPECIAL ECONOMIC INITIATIVE.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Com12 merce, in coordination with the Secretary of 

13 State and the heads of other agencies that op14 erate under the foreign policy guidance of the 

15 Secretary of State, shall, as appropriate, 

16 prioritize and expedite the efforts of the De17 partment of Commerce, the Department of 

18 State, the Department of the Treasury, the De19 partment of Energy, and such other agencies in 

20 supporting the efforts of the United States Gov21 ernment to incentivize near-shoring and trans22 formational energy investments through finan23 cial and nonfinancial methods, including meth24 ods described in this subsection, and Americas 

25 partner countries to support near-shoring and 


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1 increase investment in entities identified under 

2 subsection (b)(1)(C) by— 

3 (i) providing diplomatic, political, and 

4 economic support to such entities in Amer5 icas partner countries or other countries in 

6 the Western Hemisphere identified by the 

7 Secretary of Commerce as necessary; 

8 (ii) facilitating negotiations con9 cerning cross-border infrastructure, such 

10 as electric grids, ports, trains, or other in11 frastructure that crosses borders; 

12 (iii) providing technical and grant as13 sistance to enhance the regulatory and 

14 labor environments of Americas partner 

15 countries and other such other countries to 

16 facilitate United States business invest17 ments; and 

18 (iv) facilitating both early-stage 

19 project support and late-stage project sup20 port to such entities with respect to near21 shoring. 

22 (B) EXPORT PROTECTION.— 

23 (i) IN GENERAL.—An entity identified 

24 under subparagraph (C) of subsection 

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1 shoring or near-shoring production of a 

2 product identified under subparagraph (B) 

3 of that subsection is eligible to receive ex4 port protection as described in clause (iii). 

5 (ii) REPORT TO DEPARTMENT OF

6 COMMERCE.—If the application of an enti7 ty submitted under clause (i) is approved, 

8 the entity shall submit to the Secretary of 

9 Commerce a report specifying the average 

10 production level of the product described in 

11 that clause in the United States for the 3 

12 calendar years preceding submission of the 

13 report. 

14 (iii) AMOUNT OF EXPORTS PROVIDED

15 EXPORT PROTECTION.—If the quantity of 

16 production in the United States of a prod17 uct described in clause (i) exceeds the level 

18 specified under clause (ii), the quantity in 

19 excess of that level may be exported with20 out being subject to export controls or any 

21 other restrictions on exportation (subject 

22 to such exceptions as the President may 

23 declare are in the national security inter24 ests of the United States). 


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1 (6) SOURCE OF FUNDS.—Funding for a special 

2 economic initiative under paragraph (1) shall be 

3 taken from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Ac4 count established under section 301. 

5 (e) REGULATORY ALIGNMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce, 

7 in coordination with the Americas Partnership busi8 ness advisory board established by the Americas 

9 Partnership Secretariat under section 202, and with 

10 support from appropriate officials of the United 

11 States Government, such as the Assistant United 

12 States Trade Representative for the Americas Part13 nership established under section 203(b) and the of14 ficial of the Trade and Development Agency with 

15 lead responsibility for the implementation of this 

16 title, shall begin a process of regulatory alignment 

17 with respect to supply chains, energy investments, 

18 and products identified under subsection (b)(1) 

19 with— 

20 (A) Americas partner countries; and 

21 (B) any other country that benefits from 

22 the near-shoring of the production of a product 

23 identified under subsection (b)(1)(B) to the 

24 country or transformational energy investments. 


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1 (2) PRIORITIZATION OF PHARMACEUTICALS.— 

2 In carrying out the process described in paragraph 

3 (1), the Secretary shall begin with regulatory align4 ment with respect to pharmaceuticals. 

5 (3) REPORTS REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall 

6 submit to Congress and make available to the public 

7 reports on the success of efforts under paragraph 

8 (1) on a continuous basis. 

9 (f) DUTIES AND SUBSIDIES.—An entity organized 

10 under the laws of an Americas partner country or another 

11 country, as the President considers appropriate, that is 

12 part of a strategic supply chain shall be treated not less 

13 favorably than a United States person with respect to du14 ties, subsidies, and other related issues. 

15 (g) MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION.—The 

16 Millennium Challenge Corporation may provide assistance 

17 under the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 

18 7701 et seq.) to an Americas partner country or another 

19 country, as the President considers appropriate, for pur20 poses of supporting the near-shoring of strategic supply 

21 chains and transformational energy investments without 

22 regard to— 

23 (1) any requirement of that Act relating to 

24 competitive procedures; or 


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1 (2) the requirement to enter into a Compact 

2 under section 609 of that Act (22 U.S.C. 7708). 

3 (h) TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY.—The 

4 Trade and Development Agency may provide assistance 

5 under the section 661 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

6 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2421) to all Americas partner countries, 

7 without regard to the limitation under subsection (a) of 

8 that section, for purposes of supporting the near-shoring 

9 of strategic supply chains. 

10 (i) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The United States 

11 Agency for International Development, the United States 

12 International Development Finance Corporation, the 

13 Trade and Development Agency, and other relevant agen14 cies shall provide technical assistance with respect to the 

15 near-shoring of strategic supply chains. 

16 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

17 (1) EARLY-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The 

18 term ‘‘early-stage project support’’ includes the fol19 lowing: 

20 (A) Feasibility studies. 

21 (B) Long-term strategic supply chain plan22 ning. 

23 (C) Resource evaluations. 

24 (D) Project appraisal and costing. 

25 (E) Pilot projects. 


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1 (F) Commercial support, such as trade 

2 missions, reverse trade missions, technical 

3 workshops, international buyer programs, and 

4 international partner searchers to link suppliers 

5 to projects. 

6 (G) Technical assistance and other guid7 ance to improve the local regulatory environ8 ment and market frameworks to encourage 

9 transparent competition. 

10 (2) LATE-STAGE PROJECT SUPPORT.—The term 

11 ‘‘late-stage project support’’ includes support of the 

12 type provided by the BUILD Americas Unit. 

13 Subtitle D—People-to-People 

14 Activities 

15 SEC. 261. HUMANITARIAN AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 

16 ASSISTANCE. 

17 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con18 gress that— 

19 (1) the promotion of human rights and democ20 racy around the world is essential; 

21 (2) such promotion should continue to be incor22 porated into ongoing programs, such as those of the 

23 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of 

24 the Department of State, the Office of Democracy 

25 and Governance of the United States Agency for 


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1 International Development, the National Endowment 

2 for Democracy, the Commercial Law Development 

3 Program at the Department of Commerce, and other 

4 governmental and nongovernmental entities; 

5 (3) the activities authorized under this subtitle 

6 should remain focused on the objectives of this sub7 title; and 

8 (4) any funds appropriated pursuant to this 

9 subtitle should be expended on such activities. 

10 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this section are— 

11 (1) to deepen the cultural and people-to-people 

12 ties between the people of Americas partner coun13 tries; 

14 (2) to facilitate the establishment of sustainable 

15 market solutions to increase the economic advance16 ment interdependence of the countries in the West17 ern Hemisphere; and 

18 (3) to advance the objectives of this subtitle 

19 through support to businesses, which should remain 

20 focused on those endeavors. 

21 (c) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in 

23 consultation with the Administrator of the United 

24 States Agency for International Development, the 

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1 ment Agency, and the Secretary of Commerce, shall 

2 establish a people-to-people assistance program 

3 through which individuals in Americas partner coun4 tries may participate in programs funded by the 

5 United States Government. 

6 (2) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The programs es7 tablished pursuant to paragraph (1) shall remain fo8 cused on achieving the objectives of the Americas 

9 Partnership Threshold Program established under 

10 section 223(a), and may include grants and con11 tracts for— 

12 (A) training programs related to public ad13 ministration, such as the Global Procurement 

14 Initiative of the United States Trade and De15 velopment Agency, and good regulatory prac16 tices and practices of internal governance; 

17 (B) technical assistance related to— 

18 (i) improved service delivery for public 

19 services; 

20 (ii) studies, reports, and other 

21 deliverables needed related to engineering, 

22 construction, maintenance of public or pri23 vate infrastructure; 

24 (iii) feasibility studies related to pri25 vate sector investments; 


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1 (iv) startup grants, venture capital, 

2 and equity for establishing and growing 

3 businesses; and 

4 (v) other activities to support the 

5 Americas Partnership Threshold Program; 

6 and 

7 (C) other people-to-people assistance au8 thorized by the Secretary of State. 

9 (3) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of State 

10 is authorized to enter into contracts with for-profit 

11 private sector entities to implement the people-to12 people assistance program authorized under this 

13 subsection. 

14 (d) AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP ACCELERATOR PRO15 GRAM.— 

16 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

17 within the United States Agency for International 

18 Development a program to be known as the Amer19 icas Partnership Accelerator Program, which shall 

20 catalyze small and medium industries within Amer21 icas partner countries by providing short-term, tan22 gible successes, which will help people recognize en23 trepreneurs in their communities who are benefiting 

24 from the Americas program. 


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1 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated, from the Re3 shoring and Near-shoring Account established under 

4 section 301, $15,000,000 to carry out the program 

5 established under paragraph (1). 

6 (e) AMERICAS PARTNERSHIP FUND FOR NATURE.— 

7 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in 

8 the Treasury of the United States the Americas 

9 Partnership Fund for Nature, which shall be used 

10 by the United States Agency for International De11 velopment to assist Americas partner countries by 

12 catalyzing activities advancing conservation efforts 

13 through grants, technical assistance, and other tools. 

14 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 There is authorized to be appropriated, from the Re16 shoring and Near-shoring Account established under 

17 section 301, $10,000,000 to carry out the activities 

18 described in paragraph (1). 

19 (f) FUNDING.—The Secretary of State may expend 

20 such sums as may be necessary from the Re-shoring and 

21 Near-shoring Account established under section 301 to 

22 carry out this section. 


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1 SEC. 262. DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 

2 (a) CULTURAL AFFAIRS PROGRAMS.—The Secretary 

3 of State may provide Americas partner countries with ad4 ditional cultural affairs programming, including— 

5 (1) additional English language programming; 

6 (2) additional scholarship slots for the J. Wil7 liam Fulbright Educational Exchange Program au8 thorized under the Mutual Educational and Cultural 

9 Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.); 

10 (3) increased participation in the Fulbright11 Hays Program authorized under section 102 of the 

12 Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 

13 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2452); 

14 (4) additional slots in exchange programs of the 

15 Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs that 

16 benefit outbound American citizens; 

17 (5) additional cultural exchange programs in 

18 music and the arts; 

19 (6) establishing additional ‘‘American Corners’’ 

20 or other outreach mechanisms; and 

21 (7) the appropriation of additional amounts for 

22 the Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Fund authorized 

23 under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

24 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.). 

25 (b) EXISTING PROGRAMS.—The Secretary of State 

26 may build upon existing programs, such as the 100,000 


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1 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund, the College Ho2 rizons Opportunity Program, Young Leaders of the Amer3 icas Initiative, and other programs, as the Secretary 

4 deems appropriate. 

5 (c) FUNDING.—In addition to any other amounts 

6 made available to the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Af7 fairs, the Secretary of State may expend such sums as 

8 may be necessary from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring 

9 Account established under section 301 to carry out this 

10 section. 

11 SEC. 263. PEACE CORPS. 

12 (a) ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS IN AMERICAS PART13 NER COUNTRIES.—The Director of the Peace Corps shall 

14 take the necessary steps to double the number of Peace 

15 Corps volunteers in each Americas partner country during 

16 the 27-month period immediately following the date on 

17 which such country enters into a partnership agreement 

18 pursuant to section 201. 

19 (b) ESTABLISHING A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS IN

20 NEW COUNTRIES.—As soon as possible after an Americas 

21 partner country that does not have a Peace Corps pres22 ence enters into a partnership agreement pursuant to sec23 tion 201, the Director of the Peace Corps shall take the 

24 necessary steps to assign Peace Corps volunteers to such 

25 country. 


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1 (c) OFFSETS.—The cost of deploying additional 

2 Peace Corps volunteers to Americas partner countries 

3 under this section shall be paid for— 

4 (1) with offsets from Peace Corps deployments 

5 to other countries; or 

6 (2) from the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Ac7 count established under section 301. 

8 SEC. 264. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF THE AMERICAS. 

9 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress that— 

11 (1) quality university education is essential for 

12 the advancement of free, prosperous societies; 

13 (2) there is not a Latin American university in14 cluded among the top 100 global universities in the 

15 U.S. News and World Report’s 2022–2023 rankings; 

16 (3) there is a significant need for high-quality, 

17 nonideological, affordable university education in 

18 Latin America, especially education that is focused 

19 on science, technology, engineering, and math; and 

20 (4) it is essential to protect intellectual diversity 

21 on college campuses, while not attempting to limit 

22 freedom of speech. 

23 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—During the 2-year period be25 ginning on the date that is 1 year after the date of 


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1 the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the 

2 United States Agency for International Develop3 ment, in cooperation with American Schools and 

4 Hospitals Abroad, shall establish the American Uni5 versity of the Americas in up to 3 Americas partner 

6 countries selected by the Administrator, in consulta7 tion with the Secretary of Education. 

8 (2) INDEPENDENCE.—The American University 

9 of the Americas— 

10 (A) shall be modeled after similar institu11 tions, such as the American University of Ar12 menia, the American University of Dubai, the 

13 American University of Nigeria, and the Amer14 ican University of Cairo; 

15 (B) shall remain independent of the United 

16 States Government; and 

17 (C) shall be registered as a legal edu18 cational entity in the country in which its head19 quarters is located. 

20 (3) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORT.—Not21 withstanding paragraph (2), the United States Gov22 ernment shall support the American University of 

23 the Americas by— 

24 (A) facilitating its founding, including its 

25 registration as a legal educational entity; 


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1 (B) offering assistance with the develop2 ment of academic programs; 

3 (C) providing needed financial assistance; 

4 (D) advising the Center of Excellence for 

5 Combating Corruption established pursuant to 

6 subsection (h); and 

7 (E) retaining a seat on the Board for the 

8 Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the 

9 Americas Partnership. 

10 (4) AUTHORIZED CAMPUSES.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Of the campuses of the 

12 American University of the Americas authorized 

13 to be established under paragraph (1)— 

14 (i) 1 campus may be established in 

15 Central America; 

16 (ii) 1 campus may be established in 

17 the Caribbean; and 

18 (iii) 1 campus may be established in 

19 the Southern Cone. 

20 (B) JOINT OPERATIONS.—The 3 campuses 

21 established pursuant to subparagraph (A) may 

22 share administrative, legal, and academic re23 sources. 

24 (c) HOST COUNTRY SELECTION.— 


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1 (1) SOLICITATION OF PROPOSALS.—The Ad2 ministrator shall solicit proposals from Americas 

3 partner countries desiring to host the American Uni4 versity of the Americas. 

5 (2) PROPOSAL CONTENTS.—Proposals sub6 mitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— 

7 (A) identify the proposed location of the 

8 institution; 

9 (B) evaluate the financial viability of the 

10 institution; 

11 (C) describe the support that the host gov12 ernment is committed to provide to the institu13 tion; 

14 (D) include a sustainability plan for the in15 stitution; 

16 (E) identify possible private-sector, non17 profit, and other partners who have committed 

18 to work with the institution; 

19 (F) identify individuals who have agreed to 

20 serve on the institution’s board of directors, 

21 with letters of commitment; and 

22 (G) identify any local legislation that will 

23 need to be enacted in order to establish the in24 stitution in the host country, along with a plan 

25 to enact such legislation. 


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1 (3) GRANT.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

3 shall award a grant to each country selected to 

4 host a campus of the American University of 

5 the Americas to provide startup funding. 

6 (B) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—A grant author7 ized under subparagraph (A) may be given to a 

8 university, the ministry of higher education of 

9 the host country, or any other organization that 

10 is capable of facilitating the establishment of a 

11 campus of the American University of the 

12 Americas in accordance with this section. 

13 (4) LEGAL REGISTRATION.—After a country is 

14 selected to host the American University of the 

15 Americas, the Administrator shall formally register 

16 the institution in such country. 

17 (d) ACCREDITATION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after 

19 the date on which the American University of the 

20 Americas begins operations, the institution shall 

21 seek accreditation with an accrediting agency recog22 nized by the Department of Education in accordance 

23 with subtitle B of title 34, Code of Federal Regula24 tions. 


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1 (2) FOREIGN ACCREDITATION.—The represent2 ative of the United States in the Americas Partner3 ship business advisory board established pursuant to 

4 section 202 shall encourage collaboration with Amer5 icas partner countries to ensure the accreditation of 

6 science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine 

7 degrees with the appropriate education ministries or 

8 departments of Americas partner country govern9 ments. 

10 (e) DEGREES; COURSEWORK.— 

11 (1) STEM AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DE12 GREES.—Federal funding for the American Univer13 sity of the Americas may only be used to subsidize 

14 courses leading to a degree in science, technology, 

15 engineering, math, medicine, business development, 

16 or management. Prerequisites may only be allowed 

17 for coursework related to such degrees. 

18 (2) EXCHANGE PROGRAMS; VIRTUAL LEARN19 ING.—The American University of the Americas 

20 shall offer exchange programs and virtual learning 

21 programs. 

22 (3) LANGUAGES.—The languages of instruction 

23 for the American University of the Americas— 

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1 cies, with an effort to assure fully bilingual 

2 graduates; and 

3 (B) shall include the English language. 

4 (f) FUNDING LIMITATION.—The American Univer5 sity of the Americas may not accept any funding from the 

6 Government of the People’s Republic of China, the Gov7 ernment of the Republic of Cuba, the Government of the 

8 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Government of the 

9 Russian Federation, the Government of the Islamic Re10 public of Iran, or any individual or institution working on 

11 behalf of any such government. If any funding is accepted 

12 by the American University of the Americas in violation 

13 of this subsection, the relationship between the United 

14 States and the institution shall be immediately termi15 nated. 

16 (g) CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.—The American Uni17 versity of the Americas shall include a Center of Excel18 lence for Combating Corruption, Human, and Other Traf19 ficking and Organized Crime that carries out research and 

20 pubic education related to corruption, money laundering 

21 (including trade-based money laundering), human traf22 ficking, drug trafficking, and other related criminal activi23 ties in Americas partner countries and throughout the 

24 Americas. 


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1 (h) FUNDING.—The Secretary of State may expend 

2 such sums as may be necessary from the Re-shoring and 

3 Near-shoring Account established under section 301 to 

4 carry out this section. 

5 SEC. 265. UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL 

6 DEVELOPMENT CARIBBEAN AND LATIN 

7 AMERICAN SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM III. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the United 

9 States Agency for International Development shall estab10 lish a scholarship program, which be known as the Carib11 bean and Latin American Scholarship Program III— 

12 (1) shall be modeled after the second phase of 

13 the Caribbean and Latin American Scholarship Pro14 gram (commonly known as CLASP–II); 

15 (2) shall offer full ride scholarships (including 

16 tuition, fees, and reasonable accommodations) to 

17 qualifying students in partner countries; 

18 (3) shall offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees 

19 in science, technology, engineering, math, and the 

20 English language; and 

21 (4) shall require students— 

22 (A) to study outside of their respective 

23 countries of citizenship; and 


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1 (B) to commit to return to their respective 

2 countries of origin following the completion of 

3 their studies. 

4 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated, from the Re-shoring and 

6 Near-shoring Account established under section 301, 

7 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and each successive fis8 cal year to carry out the scholarship program authorized 

9 under subsection (a) in Americas partner countries. 

10 SEC. 266. CONCERN FOR ADVANCED RETIRED AND ELDER11 LY NONIMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM FOR 

12 ALIENS WHO PROVIDE DIRECT CARE FOR EL13 DERLY POPULATIONS. 

14 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find15 ings: 

16 (1) In 2015, there were an estimated 

17 47,800,000 individuals in the United States who 

18 were 65 years of age or older, and by 2030, it is ex19 pected that there will be nearly 73,000,000 individ20 uals in the United States who are 65 years of age 

or older, which is approximately 1 21 ⁄5 of the popu22 lation. 

23 (2) In 2020— 

24 (A) 45 percent of individuals caring for an 

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1 perienced financial hardship as a result of such 

2 caregiving, of whom 28 percent stopped saving 

3 and 22 percent exhausted their personal short4 term savings; 

5 (B) 15 percent of United States workers 

6 transitioned from full-time employment to part7 time employment due to the need to provide 

8 care for an elderly family member; 

9 (C) 6 percent of United States workers left 

10 the workforce entirely to care for an elderly 

11 loved one; and 

12 (D) 27 percent of United States workers 

13 reported finding affordable elder care services 

14 very difficult, and 33 percent of such workers 

15 reported finding such services moderately dif16 ficult. 

17 (3) If working family caregivers aged 50 years 

18 and older are provided the support they need to care 

19 for their loved ones, the gross domestic product of 

20 the United States could grow by an additional 

21 $1,700,000,000,000 by 2030. 

22 (4) In the United States, nursing assistants 

23 and home health aides— 

24 (A) comprise the largest group of workers 

25 in the long-term care workforce; and 


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1 (B) are among the 10 occupations experi2 encing the highest levels of job growth. 

3 (5) In 2014, there were approximately 

4 1,220,000 nursing assistants and 704,500 home 

5 health aides in the United States. 

6 (6) The need for workers providing direct care 

7 for elderly populations is expected to grow by 34 

8 percent by 2030, which is significantly higher than 

9 the capacity of United States workers to fill the 

10 need. 

11 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con12 gress that— 

13 (1) the increasing care needs of the elderly pop14 ulation of the United States is of increasing signifi15 cance, both in terms of cost and time, as United 

16 States family size decreases and the overall popu17 lation ages; and 

18 (2) the establishment of a nonimmigrant visa 

19 category to increase the availability of caregivers and 

20 lower the cost of caring for the elderly will allow the 

21 family members of the elderly, particularly women 

22 and single heads of household who historically have 

23 taken a greater role in caring for elderly parents, to 

24 continuing working rather than taking on a 

25 caregiving role. 


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1 (c) CONCERN FOR ADVANCED RETIRED AND ELDER2 LY NONIMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 101(a)(15) of the 

4 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

5 1101(a)(15)) is amended— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (T)(ii)(III), by strik7 ing the period at the end and inserting a semi8 colon; 

9 (B) in subparagraph (U)(iii), by striking 

10 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

11 (C) in subparagraph (V)(ii)(II), by striking 

12 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

13 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(W)(i) subject to section 214(s), an alien who 

15 seeks admission to the United States temporarily for 

16 the purpose of providing direct care, as a nursing 

17 assistant, a home health aide, a personal care aide, 

18 a psychiatric assistant or aide, a mobility assistant, 

19 or a child care provider, for 1 or more individuals 

20 who are— 

21 ‘‘(I) retired or elderly; 

22 ‘‘(II) receiving— 

23 ‘‘(aa) disability insurance benefits 

24 under section 223 of the Social Security 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 423) or monthly insurance 


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1 benefits under section 202 of such Act (42 

2 U.S.C. 402) based on such individuals’ dis3 ability; or 

4 ‘‘(bb) supplemental security income 

5 benefits under title XVI of the Social Secu6 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.) on the 

7 basis of blindness or disability; or 

8 ‘‘(III) too young to be eligible for a free 

9 public education (as defined in section 8101 of 

10 the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 

11 U.S.C. 7801)) in the State or territory in which 

12 such individuals are residing; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) the spouse or minor child of an alien de14 scribed in clause (i), if accompanying or following to 

15 join such alien.’’. 

16 (2) REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE CON17 CERN FOR ADVANCED RETIRED AND ELDERLY NON18 IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM.—Section 214 of the Im19 migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) is 

20 amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(s) CONCERN FOR ADVANCED RETIRED AND EL22 DERLY (CARE) NONIMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM.— 

23 ‘‘(1) DEFINED TERM.—The term ‘CARE visa’ 

24 means a visa issued to an alien described in section 


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1 101(a)(15)(W) in accordance with the requirements 

2 under this section. 

3 ‘‘(2) SELECTION OF APPLICANTS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

5 State, in coordination with the Attorney Gen6 eral, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 

7 Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health 

8 and Human Services, shall work with the Amer9 icas partner country (as defined in section 2 of 

10 the Americas Act) to identify, vet, train, and 

11 certify applicants for CARE visas. 

12 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION PROCESS.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

14 State, in coordination with the Americas 

15 partner country and private entities, shall 

16 establish a process by which an alien may 

17 apply to be considered for a CARE visa. 

18 ‘‘(ii) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.— 

19 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The Sec20 retary of State may not approve an 

21 application for a CARE visa unless 

22 the alien has first applied to the Sec23 retary of Labor for, and obtained, a 

24 certification that— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) there are not suffi2 cient workers who are able, will3 ing, and qualified, and who will 

4 be available at the time and place 

5 needed, to perform the labor or 

6 services involved in the applica7 tion; and 

8 ‘‘(bb) the employment of the 

9 alien in such labor or services 

10 will not adversely affect the 

11 wages and working conditions of 

12 workers in the United States 

13 similarly employed. 

14 ‘‘(II) FEES.—The Secretary of 

15 Labor may require, by regulation, as 

16 a condition of issuing a certification 

17 under subclause (I), the payment of a 

18 fee to recover the reasonable costs of 

19 processing applications for certifi20 cation. 

21 ‘‘(C) TRAINING.—With respect to each 

22 alien selected to apply for a CARE visa, the 

23 Secretary of State shall coordinate with the 

24 Secretary of Labor and the applicable Americas 

25 partner country to provide training on direct 


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1 care of individuals described in section 

2 101(a)(15)(W)(i)— 

3 ‘‘(i) in the primary language of the 

4 Americas partner country, as applicable; 

5 ‘‘(ii) with respect to the direct care of 

6 retired or elderly individuals, in accordance 

7 with the standards applicable to a nurse 

8 aide training and competency evaluation 

9 program under sections 483.152 and 

10 483.154 of title 42, Code of Federal Regu11 lations (or successor regulations); and 

12 ‘‘(iii) for the purpose of serving tem13 porarily as a nursing assistant, home 

14 health aide, personal care aide, psychiatric 

15 assistant, mobility assistant, or child care 

16 provider in the United States. 

17 ‘‘(D) COMPETENCY EVALUATION AND CER18 TIFICATION.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—On completion of 

20 the training provided under subparagraph 

21 (C), an alien seeking a CARE visa for the 

22 purpose of providing direct care for an in23 dividual described in section 

24 101(a)(15)(W)(i)(I) shall be evaluated for 

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1 ards applicable to a nurse aide training 

2 and competency evaluation program under 

3 sections 483.152 and 483.154 of title 42, 

4 Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 

5 regulations). 

6 ‘‘(ii) CERTIFICATION.—If the Sec7 retary of State makes a determination that 

8 an alien seeking a CARE visa described in 

9 clause (i) has attained competency in ac10 cordance with the standards referred to in 

11 such clause, the Secretary may certify such 

12 individual for a CARE visa. 

13 ‘‘(E) NUMERICAL LIMITATION.—Not more 

14 than 50,000 CARE visas may be issued annu15 ally under this subsection. 

16 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary of State 

17 may not issue a CARE visa to any individual who— 

18 ‘‘(A) has not been certified under para19 graph (2)(D)(ii) (unless such individual will 

20 only be providing direct care to an individual 

21 described in subclause (II) or (III) of section 

22 101(a)(15)(W)(i)); or 

23 ‘‘(B) has not completed security and law 

24 enforcement background checks to the satisfac25 tion of the Secretary of Homeland Security. 


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1 ‘‘(4) ENGLISH LANGUAGE NOT REQUIRED.— 

2 The issuance of a CARE visa or the admission of an 

3 alien to the United States pursuant to a CARE visa 

4 may not be conditioned on English-language com5 petency. 

6 ‘‘(5) PORTABILITY.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A nonimmigrant de8 scribed in subparagraph (B) who was previously 

9 issued a CARE visa may accept new employ10 ment upon the filing by the prospective em11 ployer of a new petition on behalf of such non12 immigrant. Employment authorization shall 

13 continue for such nonimmigrant until the new 

14 petition is adjudicated. If the new petition is 

15 denied, the employment authorization of the 

16 alien shall cease to have effect. 

17 ‘‘(B) NONIMMIGRANT DESCRIBED.—A non18 immigrant described in this subparagraph is a 

19 nonimmigrant— 

20 ‘‘(i) who has been admitted to the 

21 United States; 

22 ‘‘(ii) on whose behalf an employer has 

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1 immigrant’s period of authorized admission 

2 expires; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) who, after such admission, has 

4 not been employed without authorization in 

5 the United States before the filing of such 

6 petition. 

7 ‘‘(6) NONCOMPETE CLAUSES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An agreement be9 tween an employer and a CARE visa holder 

10 may not include a noncompete clause. 

11 ‘‘(B) NONCOMPETE CLAUSE DEFINED.—In 

12 this paragraph, the term ‘noncompete clause’ 

13 means a contractual term between an employer 

14 and a worker that prevents, or has the effect of 

15 prohibiting, the worker from seeking or accept16 ing employment with a person after the conclu17 sion of the worker’s employment with the em18 ployer. 

19 ‘‘(7) PERIOD OF AUTHORIZED ADMISSION.— 

20 The period of authorized admission for a non21 immigrant described in section 101(a)(15)(W) who 

22 has been issued a CARE visa shall be not more than 

23 7 years and may not be renewed or extended for any 

24 reason.’’. 


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1 (3) PROTECTIONS FOR VICTIMS OF TRAF2 FICKING.—Section 203 of the William Wilberforce 

3 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 

4 of 2008 (8 U.S.C. 1375c) is amended— 

5 (A) in the section heading, by striking 

6 ‘‘AND G–5’’ and inserting ‘‘, G–5, AND CARE’’; 

7 (B) in subsection (a)— 

8 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik9 ing ‘‘AND G–5’’ and inserting ‘‘, G–5, AND

10 CARE’’; and 

11 (ii) in paragraph (1)— 

12 (I) in subparagraph (A)— 

13 (aa) by striking ‘‘subsection 

14 (d)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

15 (b)(2)’’; and 

16 (bb) by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 

17 inserting a semicolon; 

18 (II) in subparagraph (B), by 

19 striking the period at the end and in20 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

21 (III) by adding at the end the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(C) a CARE visa unless the applicant is 

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1 sistant, a home health aide, a personal care 

2 aide, a psychiatric assistant or aide, a mobility 

3 assistant, or a child care for individual de4 scribed in section 101(a)(15)(W) of the Immi5 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

6 1101(a)(15)(W)).’’; 

7 (C) in subsection (b)— 

8 (i) in the subsection heading— 

9 (I) by striking ‘‘AND G–5’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘, G–5, AND CARE’’; and 

11 (II) by striking ‘‘EMPLOYED BY

12 DIPLOMATS AND STAFF OF INTER13 NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS’’; 

14 (ii) in paragraph (1), in the matter 

15 preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 

16 ‘‘or a G–5 visa’’ and inserting ‘‘, a G–5 

17 visa, or a CARE visa’’; and 

18 (iii) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking 

19 ‘‘or a G–5 visa’’ and inserting ‘‘, a G–5 

20 visa, or a CARE visa’’; 

21 (D) in subsection (c)(1)— 

22 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

23 ‘‘or a G–5 visa’’ and inserting ‘‘, a G–5 

24 visa, or a CARE visa’’; and 

25 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 


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1 (I) by striking ‘‘or a G–5 visa’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘, a G–5 visa, or a 

3 CARE visa’’; and 

4 (II) by striking ‘‘or G–5 non5 immigrant’’ and inserting ‘‘, G–5, or 

6 CARE nonimmigrant’’; 

7 (E) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘or a G– 

8 5 visa’’ and inserting ‘‘, a G–5 visa, or a CARE 

9 visa’’; and 

10 (F) in subsection (f), by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(5) CARE VISA.—The term ‘CARE visa’ 

13 means a nonimmigrant visa issued pursuant to sub14 paragraph (W) of section 101(a)(15) of the Immi15 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

16 1101(a)(15)).’’. 

17 (d) AUTHORIZATION TO HIRE ADDITIONAL EMBASSY

18 PERSONNEL.—The Secretary of State may increase the 

19 number of foreign service officers stationed at United 

20 States embassies in order to ensure the efficient adjudica21 tion of visa applications associated with the Concern for 

22 Advanced Retired and Elderly nonimmigrant visa pro23 gram. 

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1 strued to prevent an alien from changing from any non2 immigrant classification to any other nonimmigrant classi3 fication under section 248 of the Immigration and Nation4 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1258). 

5 SEC. 267. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON TN VISA PROGRAM. 

6 It is the sense of Congress that the President should 

7 incorporate into the periodic review of the USMCA for 

8 2026 a discussion of the establishment of a TN visa cat9 egory for low-skill workers. 

10 SEC. 268. ASSESSMENT OF VISA WAIVER PROGRAM ELIGI11 BILITY FOR URUGUAY AND COSTA RICA. 

12 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in 

14 consultation with the Secretary of State, shall submit to 

15 Congress a report that includes— 

16 (1) an assessment as to whether Uruguay meets 

17 the eligibility criteria for designation as a program 

18 country for purposes of the visa waiver program 

19 under section 217 of the Immigration and Nation20 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187); 

21 (2) an assessment as to whether Costa Rica 

22 meets such eligibility criteria; and 

23 (3) in the case of an assessment that Uruguay 

24 or Costa Rica does not meet such eligibility criteria, 


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1 a description of the actions required of such country 

2 in order to meet such criteria. 

3 SEC. 269. RADIO FREE AMERICAS. 

4 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of State, the Admin5 istrator of the United States Agency for International De6 velopment, the Secretary of Commerce, or the head of any 

7 other relevant Federal department may award annual 

8 grants to a country in Latin America or the Caribbean 

9 for the purpose of carrying out a broadcasting service, 

10 which— 

11 (1) shall be known as ‘‘Radio Free Americas’’; 

12 (2) shall consist of radio, television, social 

13 media, and other public communications efforts; and 

14 (3) may not result in any curtailment of the on15 going work of Radio Martı ́. 

16 (b) FUNCTIONS.—Radio Free Americas shall— 

17 (1) provide accurate and timely information, 

18 news, and commentary about events in the Americas 

19 and in other places around the world; and 

20 (2) be a forum for a variety of opinions and 

21 voices from within nations in the Western Hemi22 sphere whose people do not fully enjoy freedom of 

23 expression. 

24 (c) GRANT AGREEMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any grant awarded under 

2 this section shall be subject to the limitations and 

3 restrictions set forth in paragraphs (2) through (5). 

4 (2) LOCATION OF HEADQUARTERS.—No grant 

5 may be awarded under this section unless the head6 quarters of Radio Free Americas and its senior ad7 ministrative and managerial staff are in a location 

8 that ensures economy, operational effectiveness, and 

9 accountability to the United States Government. 

10 (3) OBLIGATIONS.—Any agreement governing a 

11 grant awarded under this section shall require that 

12 any contract entered into by the grantee on behalf 

13 of Radio Free Americas specifies that all obligations 

14 related to the functions described in subsection (b) 

15 be assumed by Radio Free Americas and not by the 

16 United States Government. 

17 (4) LEASE AGREEMENTS.—Any such grant 

18 agreement shall require that any lease agreements 

19 entered into by the grantee on behalf of Radio Free 

20 Americas be assignable to the United States Govern21 ment, to the maximum extent possible. 

22 (5) LIMITATION ON ACTIVITIES; TERMI23 NATIONS.—Grants awarded under this section shall 

24 be made pursuant to a grant agreement— 


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1 (A) requiring that grant funds be used 

2 only for activities in accordance with this sec3 tion; and 

4 (B) specifying that failure to comply with 

5 the requirements under this section authorizes 

6 the termination of the agreement without fiscal 

7 obligation to the United States. 

8 (d) SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ADMINISTRA9 TIVE AND MANAGERIAL COSTS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress that administrative and managerial costs for the op11 eration of Radio Free Americas— 

12 (1) should be kept to a minimum; and 

13 (2) should not exceed the costs that would have 

14 been incurred if Radio Free Americas had been op15 erated as a Federal entity rather than through a 

16 grantee. 

17 (e) ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF RADIO

18 FREE AMERICAS.—Not later than 3 years after the date 

19 on which initial funding is provided for the purpose of op20 erating Radio Free Americas, the Secretary of State shall 

21 submit a report to the appropriate congressional commit22 tees regarding— 

23 (1) whether Radio Free Americas— 

24 (A) is technically sound and cost-effective; 


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1 (B) consistently meets the standards for 

2 quality and objectivity established under this 

3 section; and 

4 (C) is received by a sufficient audience to 

5 warrant its continued operations; 

6 (2) the extent to which the information, news, 

7 and commentary provided by Radio Free Americas 

8 is also being received by the target audience from 

9 other credible sources; and 

10 (3) the extent to which the interests of the 

11 United States are being served by maintaining the 

12 operations of Radio Free Americas. 

13 (f) NOTIFICATION AND CONSULTATION REGARDING

14 DISPLACEMENT OF VOICE OF AMERICA BROAD15 CASTING.—The Chief Executive Officer of the United 

16 States Agency for Global Media shall notify the appro17 priate congressional committees before— 

18 (1) entering into any agreement for the utiliza19 tion of Voice of America transmitters, equipment, or 

20 other resources that will significantly reduce the 

21 broadcasting activities of the Voice of America in the 

22 Americas or in any other region in order to accom23 modate the broadcasting activities of Radio Free 

24 Americas; or 


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1 (2) entering into any agreements in regard to 

2 the utilization of Radio Free Americas transmitters, 

3 equipment, or other resources that will significantly 

4 reduce the broadcasting activities of Radio Free 

5 Americas. 

6 (g) ALTERNATIVE GRANTEE.—If the Chief Executive 

7 Officer of the United States Agency for Global Media de8 termines that Radio Free Americas is not carrying out the 

9 functions described in subsection (b) in an effective and 

10 economical manner, the Chief Executive Officer may 

11 award the grant to carry out such functions to another 

12 entity. 

13 (h) FEDERAL STATUS.—Nothing in this section may 

14 be construed to make Radio Free Americas a Federal 

15 agency or instrumentality. 

16 (i) FUNDING.—The Secretary of State may expend 

17 such sums as may be necessary from the Re-shoring and 

18 Near-shoring Account established under section 301 to 

19 carry out this section. 

20 SEC. 270. BIENNIAL PRESIDENTIAL SUMMIT. 

21 Not less frequently than biennially, the President, in 

22 consultation with the Secretary of State, shall host a sum23 mit for Americas partner countries during which such 

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1 ments, endeavors, and programs associated with activities 

2 authorized under this Act. 

3 TITLE III—REVENUE AND 

4 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 

5 SEC. 301. RE-SHORING AND NEAR-SHORING ACCOUNT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

7 Treasury of the United States an account to be known 

8 as the ‘‘Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account’’ (in this 

9 section referred to as the ‘‘Account’’), consisting of such 

10 amounts as are— 

11 (1) appropriated pursuant to the authorization 

12 of appropriations under subsection (c); 

13 (2) deposited into or transferred to the Account 

14 as specified in title II or subsection (c) of section 

15 321 of Tariff Act of 1930, as added by section 302; 

16 and 

17 (3) credited to the Account under subsection 

18 (d). 

19 (b) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Amounts in the Account 

20 shall be available, without further appropriation, to carry 

21 out titles I and II. 

22 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

24 appropriated $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 for 

25 initial capitalization of the Account. 


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1 (2) REIMBURSEMENT OF TREASURY.—Not later 

2 than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this 

3 Act, the Account shall reimburse the treasury for 

4 the amount appropriated pursuant to the authoriza5 tion of appropriations under paragraph (1). 

6 (d) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para8 graph (2), the Secretary of the Treasury shall invest 

9 such portion of the Account as is not required to 

10 meet current withdrawals in interest-bearing obliga11 tions of the United States or in obligations guaran12 teed as to both principal and interest by the United 

13 States. 

14 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF INVESTMENT IN OTHER

15 INSTRUMENTS.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 

17 Treasury may invest such portion of the Ac18 count as the Secretary anticipates will be held 

19 in the Account for not less than 2 years in eq20 uity securities or other securities through a 

21 commercial bank if the Secretary determines 

22 such investments are appropriate. 

23 (B) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph, the 

24 terms ‘‘equity security’’ and ‘‘security’’ have the 

25 meanings given those terms in section 3(a) of 


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1 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 

2 U.S.C. 78c(a)). 

3 (3) INTEREST AND PROCEEDS.—The interest 

4 on, and the proceeds from the sale or redemption of, 

5 any obligations held in the Account shall be credited 

6 to and form a part of the Account. 

7 SEC. 302. MODIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF DE MINIMIS 

8 ENTRIES OF ARTICLES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 321 of Tariff Act of 1930 

10 (19 U.S.C. 1321) is amended— 

11 (1) by amending subsection (a)(2)(C) to read as 

12 follows: 

13 ‘‘(C) in any other case, such amount as the 

14 Secretary establishes under subsection (c)(1).’’; 

15 and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF DE MINIMIS ENTRIES.— 

18 ‘‘(1) RECIPROCITY WITH RESPECT TO DE MINI19 MIS ENTRIES.— 

20 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT OF THRESHOLDS.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 

22 180 days after the date of the enactment 

23 of the Americas Act, the Secretary of the 

24 Treasury shall prescribe regulations to es25 tablish dollar amount thresholds, which 


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1 may not exceed $800, for de minimis en2 tries for purposes of subsection (a)(2)(C). 

3 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 

4 shall establish a threshold under clause (i) 

5 for each country that is equal to the sum 

6 of— 

7 ‘‘(I) the dollar amount threshold 

8 of that country for de minimis entries 

9 from the United States; and 

10 ‘‘(II) any related thresholds of 

11 that country, such as a threshold re12 lating to a value-added tax on im13 ports. 

14 ‘‘(iii) PUBLICATION; NOTIFICATION.— 

15 Not later than 180 days after the date of 

16 the enactment of the Americas Act, and 

17 annually thereafter, the Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(I) publish the threshold estab19 lished under clause (i) in the Federal 

20 Register; and 

21 ‘‘(II) notify the governments of 

22 foreign countries of the threshold. 

23 ‘‘(B) TRANSFER OF AMOUNTS ATTRIB24 UTABLE TO DE MINIMIS ENTRIES TO RE-SHOR25 ING AND NEAR-SHORING ACCOUNT.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of 

2 the Treasury shall transfer to the Re-shor3 ing and Near-shoring Account established 

4 under section 301 of the Americas Act 

5 from the general fund of the Treasury, for 

6 fiscal year 2024 and each fiscal year there7 after, an amount equivalent to the amount 

8 received into the general fund during that 

9 fiscal year that the Secretary determines is 

10 attributable to revenue received as a result 

11 of the dollar amount thresholds established 

12 under subparagraph (A). 

13 ‘‘(ii) FREQUENCY OF TRANSFERS.— 

14 The Secretary shall transfer amounts re15 quired by clause (i) to be transferred to 

16 the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account 

17 not less frequently than quarterly. 

18 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON DE MINIMIS ENTRIES

19 FROM CERTAIN COUNTRIES.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one 

21 year after the date of the enactment of the 

22 Americas Act, and annually thereafter, the Sec23 retary of the Treasury shall publish a list of 

24 countries the articles of which are not eligible 

25 for entry under subsection (a)(2)(C). 


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1 ‘‘(B) CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 

3 180 days after the date of the enactment 

4 of the Americas Act, the Secretary shall 

5 establish, and submit to Congress a report 

6 on, the conditions for including a country 

7 on the list required by subparagraph (A). 

8 ‘‘(ii) CONSIDERATIONS.—In estab9 lishing under clause (i) conditions for in10 cluding a country on the list required by 

11 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall con12 sider the following: 

13 ‘‘(I) Violations by the country of 

14 the Act entitled ‘An Act to ensure 

15 that goods made with forced labor in 

16 the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of 

17 the People’s Republic of China do not 

18 enter the United States market, and 

19 for other purposes’, approved Decem20 ber 23, 2021 (Public Law 117–78; 

21 135 Stat. 1525) (commonly referred 

22 to as the ‘Uyghur Forced Labor Pre23 vention Act’). 


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1 ‘‘(II) Transshipment through the 

2 country of goods from countries on 

3 the list. 

4 ‘‘(III) The exportation from the 

5 country of counterfeit goods. 

6 ‘‘(IV) Whether the government of 

7 the country is committed to the fight 

8 against trafficking in persons, illegal 

9 narcotics, and terrorism, as dem10 onstrated by— 

11 ‘‘(aa) the government of the 

12 country not being listed under 

13 subparagraph (C) of section 

14 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Vic15 tims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

16 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)) (commonly 

17 referred to as ‘tier 3’) in the 

18 most recent report on trafficking 

19 in persons required under such 

20 section (commonly referred to as 

21 the ‘Trafficking in Persons Re22 port’); and 

23 ‘‘(bb) certification by the 

24 Department of State that the 

25 government is participating in 


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1 the fight against illegal narcotics 

2 and terrorism. 

3 ‘‘(V) Harm to industry in the 

4 United States. 

5 ‘‘(VI) Public safety risks posed 

6 by imports from the country to United 

7 States consumers. 

8 ‘‘(VII) The flow of narcotics from 

9 the country into the United States. 

10 ‘‘(VIII) Such other issues as the 

11 Secretary considers appropriate. 

12 ‘‘(C) COUNTRIES REQUIRED TO BE IN13 CLUDED.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The following 

15 countries shall be included on the list re16 quired by subparagraph (A), effective on 

17 the date of the enactment of the Americas 

18 Act: 

19 ‘‘(I) The People’s Republic of 

20 China. 

21 ‘‘(II) The Russian Federation. 

22 ‘‘(ii) REMOVAL FROM LIST.—A coun23 try specified in clause (i) may not be re24 moved from the list required by subpara25 graph (A) until the Secretary certifies to 


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1 Congress that the government of the coun2 try has made progress with respect to the 

3 considerations described in subparagraph 

4 (B)(ii). 

5 ‘‘(D) REMOVAL.— 

6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The government 

7 of a country on the list required by sub8 paragraph (A) may petition the Secretary 

9 for removal from the list. 

10 ‘‘(ii) RESPONSE TIME.—The Secretary 

11 shall— 

12 ‘‘(I) respond to a petition sub13 mitted under clause (i) not later than 

14 90 days after receiving the petition; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(II) include in that response a 

17 description of any measures the gov18 ernment that submitted the petition is 

19 required to undertake to be removed 

20 from the list. 

21 ‘‘(E) CONSULTATIONS WITH CONGRESS.— 

22 The Secretary shall consult with Congress be23 fore adding a country to or removing a country 

24 from the list required by subparagraph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS ON ELIGIBILITY OF CAR2 RIERS FOR IMPORTATION OF DE MINIMIS EN3 TRIES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An article is eligible 

5 for entry under subsection (a)(2)(C) only if the 

6 article is transported to the United States by a 

7 contract carrier or customs broker. 

8 ‘‘(B) DATA REQUIREMENTS.—A contract 

9 carrier or customs broker seeking to enter an 

10 article under subsection (a)(2)(C) shall provide 

11 the following data with respect to the article: 

12 ‘‘(i) The heading or subheading of the 

13 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

14 States under which the article is classifi15 able. 

16 ‘‘(ii) The country of origin of the arti17 cle. 

18 ‘‘(iii) The country of manufacture of 

19 the article (if different from the country of 

20 origin under clause (ii)). 

21 ‘‘(iv) The shipper of record. 

22 ‘‘(v) The importer of record. 

23 ‘‘(vi) A description of the article. 

24 ‘‘(vii) The fair market value in the 

25 United States of the article. 


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1 ‘‘(C) COLLECTION OF DUTIES AND

2 TAXES.—A contract carrier or customs broker 

3 transporting articles entering under subsection 

4 (a)(2)(C) shall be responsible for collecting the 

5 duties and taxes owed with respect to such arti6 cles and remitting those duties and taxes to 

7 U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

8 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(i) CONTRACT CARRIER.—The term 

10 ‘contract carrier’ means a private entity 

11 that— 

12 ‘‘(I) is organized under the laws 

13 of the United States or any jurisdic14 tion within the United States; and 

15 ‘‘(II) ships small packages into 

16 the United States by air or land. 

17 ‘‘(ii) CUSTOMS BROKER.—The term 

18 ‘customs broker’ means a person holding a 

19 valid customs broker’s license issued under 

20 section 641(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930 

21 (19 U.S.C. 1641(b)). 

22 ‘‘(4) DE MINIMIS ENTRY DEFINED.—In this 

23 subsection, the term ‘de minimis entry’ means the 

24 entry of articles imported by one person on one day 

25 with a fair retail value that does not exceed— 


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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of articles entering the 

2 United States, the applicable threshold estab3 lished under paragraph (1)(A); and 

4 ‘‘(B) in the case of articles entering any 

5 other country, an amount determined by the 

6 government of that country to be de minimis.’’. 

7 (b) ELIGIBILITY FOR DE MINIMIS ENTRY PROCE8 DURES OF ARTICLES WITHDRAWN FROM A UNITED

9 STATES FOREIGN TRADE ZONE.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 321(a)(2) of the 

11 Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)), as 

12 amended by subsection (a), is further amended, in 

13 the matter preceding subparagraph (A)— 

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘or withdrawal from a 

15 foreign trade zone and subsequent entry for 

16 consumption’’ after ‘‘by reason of importation’’; 

17 and 

18 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or in a foreign trade 

19 zone of articles withdrawn on one invoice or 

20 order for one ultimate consignee on one day,’’ 

21 after ‘‘one person on one day’’. 

22 (2) TREATMENT OF E-COMMERCE UNDER FOR23 EIGN TRADE ZONES ACT.—Section 15(d) of the For24 eign Trade Zones Act (19 U.S.C. 81o(d)) is amend25 ed— 


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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(d) and 

2 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(2)(A) In this subsection, the term ‘retail 

4 trade’ does not include any e-commerce transaction 

5 in which articles with a fair retail value of less than 

6 the applicable threshold established under section 

7 321(c)(1)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930 are with8 drawn from a zone. 

9 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 

10 term ‘e-commerce’ means the buying or selling of ar11 ticles over the internet or other electronic exchange 

12 network.’’. 

13 (3) CUSTOMS PROCEDURES.— 

14 (A) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROCESS.—Not 

15 later than 90 days after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, 

17 in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland 

18 Security with respect to trade facilitation and 

19 trade enforcement and the Secretary of Com20 merce with respect to matters relating to for21 eign trade zones, shall prescribe regulations to 

22 implement the amendments made by this sub23 section. 


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1 (B) PUBLIC COMMENT.—In prescribing 

2 regulations under subparagraph (A), the Sec3 retary shall— 

4 (i) publish a notice of proposed rule5 making in the Federal Register; 

6 (ii) provide for a period for public re7 view and comment of not less than 30 

8 days; and 

9 (iii) issue final regulations not later 

10 than 90 days after the end of the period 

11 described in clause (ii) and not less than 

12 60 days before the effective date of such 

13 regulations. 

14 (C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

15 this paragraph may be construed to affect the 

16 administration of section 484(i) of the Tariff 

17 Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(i)) or section 

18 15(d) of the Foreign Trade Zones Act (19 

19 U.S.C. 81o(d)) other than to the extent nec20 essary to make articles withdrawn from a for21 eign trade zone and entering for consumption 

22 eligible for the exemption from duties under 

23 section 321(a)(2)(C) of the Tariff Act of 1930 

24 (19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C)). 


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1 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

2 by this subsection shall apply with respect to articles 

3 withdrawn from a foreign trade zone and entered for 

4 consumption on or after the date that is 15 days 

5 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 (5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

7 (A) FOREIGN TRADE ZONE.—The term 

8 ‘‘foreign trade zone’’ means a zone activated 

9 pursuant to the Foreign Trade Zones Act on or 

10 before the date of the enactment of this Act. 

11 (B) FOREIGN TRADE ZONES ACT.—The 

12 term ‘‘Foreign Trade Zones Act’’ means the 

13 Act of June 18, 1934 (commonly known as the 

14 ‘‘Foreign Trade Zones Act’’) (48 Stat. 998, 

15 chapter 590; 19 U.S.C. 81a et seq.). 

16 TITLE IV—REPORTING AND 

17 BRANDING 

18 SEC. 401. ANNUAL REPORT ON AMERICAS PROGRAM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 31 of 

20 each year that begins after the date of the enactment of 

21 this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 

22 the officials specified in subsection (b), shall submit to the 

23 Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee 

24 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives a 


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1 report on activities carried out under the Americas pro2 gram during the preceding fiscal year. 

3 (b) OFFICIALS SPECIFIED.—The officials specified in 

4 this subsection are the following: 

5 (1) The Administrator of the United States 

6 Agency for International Development. 

7 (2) The United States Trade Representative. 

8 (3) The Secretary of State. 

9 (4) The Secretary of Homeland Security. 

10 (5) Such other officials as the Secretary of 

11 Commerce considers appropriate. 

12 (c) ASSESSMENT OF ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED IN

13 PRECEDING YEAR.—Each report required by subsection 

14 (a) shall include the following for the fiscal year covered 

15 by the report: 

16 (1) A statement of the number of Americas 

17 partner countries. 

18 (2) An assessment of the effectiveness of loans 

19 and other incentives provided under section 212 with 

20 respect to re-shoring and near-shoring that includes 

21 an estimate of— 

22 (A) the number of entities re-shored or 

23 near-shored; and 


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1 (B) the number of jobs created in the 

2 United States and Americas partner countries 

3 as a result of such re-shoring and near-shoring. 

4 (3) An assessment of the status of negotiations 

5 for the expansion of the USMCA under section 222 

6 that includes— 

7 (A) an identification of the countries par8 ticipating in those negotiations; 

9 (B) an estimate of the amount of trade be10 tween those countries and the United States; 

11 and 

12 (C) an identification of any significant 

13 challenges relating to those negotiations. 

14 (4) An assessment of the status of negotiations 

15 for the expansion of countries that are CBTPA ben16 eficiary countries (as defined in section 213(b)(5) of 

17 the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 

18 U.S.C. 2703(b)), as amended by section 224) that 

19 includes— 

20 (A) an identification of the countries par21 ticipating in those negotiations; 

22 (B) an estimate of the amount of trade be23 tween those countries and the United States; 

24 and 


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1 (C) an identification of any significant 

2 challenges relating to those negotiations. 

3 (5) An assessment of the activities of the 

4 BUILD Americas Unit that includes— 

5 (A) a description of the financial instru6 ments used under section 252 and the amounts 

7 issued under such instruments; 

8 (B) an assessment of the repayment rates; 

9 (C) a copy of each grant, loan, guaranty, 

10 or insurance agreement; 

11 (D) a list of projects carried out using 

12 such grants, loans, guaranties, or insurance; 

13 and 

14 (E) a statement of the amount expended 

15 by the Corporation and the amount provided to 

16 the Re-shoring and Near-shoring Account es17 tablished under section 301. 

18 (6) An assessment of the activities of the Amer19 icas Partnership Enterprise Fund established under 

20 section 253 that includes— 

21 (A) an identification of the country in 

22 which the Fund is registered; 

23 (B) a copy of the registration documents 

24 for the Fund; 


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1 (C) a description of the grants, loans, and 

2 technical assistance provided by the Fund; and 

3 (D) an assessment of the repayment rate 

4 of loans provided by the Fund. 

5 (7) An assessment of activities carried out 

6 under section 254 relating to near-shoring of stra7 tegic supply chains or transformational energy in8 vestments. 

9 (8) An assessment of humanitarian and busi10 ness development assistance provided under section 

11 261 that includes— 

12 (A) a list of the recipients of such assist13 ance; and 

14 (B) a description of the assistance pro15 vided. 

16 (9) A description of the cultural affairs pro17 gramming provided under section 262. 

18 (10) An assessment of efforts conducted under 

19 section 263 to increase the number of Peace Corps 

20 volunteers in Americas partner countries that in21 cludes an identification of the number of such volun22 teers and the countries to which such volunteers are 

23 assigned. 


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1 (11) An assessment of activities carried out 

2 under section 264 relating to the American Univer3 sity of the Americas that includes— 

4 (A) a list of campus locations; 

5 (B) the number of students attending each 

6 such campus; and 

7 (C) a list of degrees offered by the univer8 sity. 

9 (12) An assessment of the programming pro10 vided by the United States Agency for Global Media 

11 under section 269 that includes— 

12 (A) a list of programs provided; and 

13 (B) an assessment of the number and loca14 tions of listeners to such programs. 

15 (13) If a summit was conducted under section 

16 270 in the year preceding the submission of the re17 port— 

18 (A) an assessment of the success of the 

19 summit; 

20 (B) the location of the summit; and 

21 (C) an identification of the attendees of 

22 the summit. 

23 (d) FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS FOR UPCOMING

24 YEAR.—Each report required by subsection (a) shall in25 clude a projection of the amount of funds required for the 


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1 fiscal year that begins after submission of the report, 

2 disaggregated by agency and purpose. 

3 SEC. 402. BRANDING AND MARKETING FOR AMERICAS PRO4 GRAM. 

5 Branding and marketing for the Americas program 

6 shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the Visibly 

7 American branding policies of the Department of State. 

Æ 


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