I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8411 

To establish prohibitions with respect to vessels loaded or previously held 

at ports, harbors, or marine terminals in certain Western Hemisphere 

countries and with respect to which land owned, held, or controlled 

directly or indirectly by United States persons that is necessary to 

access the ports, harbors, marine terminals, or relevant port infrastructure has been nationalized, forcibly limited, or expropriated by the governments of such countries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2024 

Mr. PFLUGER (for himself, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. CARL, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. 

CARBAJAL, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. MAST, Mr. PALMER, Mr. 

VICENTE GONZALEZ of Texas, and Mr. STRONG) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in 

addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence (Permanent 

Select), and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish prohibitions with respect to vessels loaded or 

previously held at ports, harbors, or marine terminals 

in certain Western Hemisphere countries and with respect to which land owned, held, or controlled directly 

or indirectly by United States persons that is necessary 

to access the ports, harbors, marine terminals, or relevant port infrastructure has been nationalized, forcibly 

limited, or expropriated by the governments of such 

countries, and for other purposes. 


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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defending American 

5 Property Abroad Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF PROHIBITED PROPERTY. 

7 Not later than 60 days after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

9 shall— 

10 (1) designate all prohibited property, as defined 

11 in section 5 of this Act; and 

12 (2) provide a list of all prohibited property des13 ignated pursuant to paragraph (1) to— 

14 (A) the necessary agencies and officials 

15 within the Department of Homeland Security 

16 and the Department of State for the implemen17 tation of section 3 of this Act; and 

18 (B) the appropriate congressional commit19 tees. 

20 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS ON THE USE OF DESIGNATED PROP21 ERTY. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—For fiscal year 2024 and each fis23 cal year thereafter, none of the funds appropriated or oth24 erwise made available to the Department of Homeland Se25 curity or the Department of State may be used to allow 


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1 a vessel loaded or previously held at a port, harbor, or 

2 marine terminal that is designated by the Secretary of 

3 Homeland Security as a prohibited property under section 

4 2(1) of this Act to— 

5 (1) import into the United States any good, 

6 ware, article, merchandise, or other freight; 

7 (2) release into the United States any good, 

8 ware, article, merchandise, or other freight; 

9 (3) dock any passenger vessel in the United 

10 States; 

11 (4) release into the United States any pas12 sengers from a passenger vessel; or 

13 (5) dry dock, complete repair work, refurbish, 

14 victual, refuel, or conduct any other servicing or 

15 maintenance-related activities. 

16 (b) PROHIBITION ON GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES OR

17 SALARIES.—For fiscal year 2024 and each fiscal year 

18 thereafter, none of the funds appropriated or otherwise 

19 made available to the Department of Homeland Security 

20 or the Department of State shall be available for any activ21 ity or for paying the salary of any Government employee 

22 in the case in which funding the activity or paying the 

23 salary to a Government employee would result in a deter24 mination, regulation, or policy that would limit or impede 

25 the enforcement of subsection (a) of this section. 


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•HR 8411 IH

1 SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

2 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

3 of this Act, and each year thereafter— 

4 (1) the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

5 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

6 a report on— 

7 (A) the number of prohibited property des8 ignations made by the Secretary under section 

9 2(1) of this Act; 

10 (B) the number of freight vessels that were 

11 prevented from importing or releasing any 

12 goods, wares, articles, merchandise, or other 

13 freight into the United States under the prohi14 bition in section 3 of this Act; 

15 (C) the number of passenger vessels that 

16 were prevented from docking or releasing pas17 sengers into the United States under the prohi18 bition in section 3 of this Act; and 

19 (D) the number of vessels that were pre20 vented from dry docking, completing repair 

21 work, refurbishing, victualling, refueling, or 

22 conducting any other servicing or maintenance23 related activities; 

24 (2) the United States Trade Representative 

25 shall submit to the appropriate congressional com26 mittees a report on— 


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1 (A) the number of foreign trade partner 

2 governments that have— 

3 (i) nationalized, forcibly limited, or ex4 propriated land owned, held, or controlled 

5 directly or indirectly by a United States 

6 person that is necessary to access a port, 

7 harbor, marine terminal, or relevant port 

8 infrastructure; 

9 (ii) repudiated or nullified any con10 tract, permit, concession, easement, or 

11 similar authorization with a United States 

12 person related to land necessary to access 

13 a port, harbor, marine terminal, or rel14 evant port infrastructure; and 

15 (iii) taken any other action which has 

16 the effect of seizing ownership or control of 

17 the land owned, held, or controlled directly 

18 or indirectly by a United States person 

19 that is necessary to access a port, harbor, 

20 marine terminal, or relevant port infra21 structure; and 

22 (B) the impact of the actions described in 

23 subparagraph (A) on the existing trade rela24 tionship between the United States and any 

25 such foreign trade partner; 


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1 (3) the Director of National Intelligence shall 

2 submit to the appropriate congressional committees 

3 a report on— 

4 (A) the national security implications of 

5 actions by foreign trade partners to— 

6 (i) nationalize, forcibly limit, or expro7 priate land owned, held, or controlled di8 rectly or indirectly by a United States per9 son that is necessary to access a port, har10 bor, marine terminal, or relevant port in11 frastructure; 

12 (ii) repudiate or nullify any contract, 

13 permit, concession, easement, or similar 

14 authorization with a United States person 

15 related to land necessary to access a port, 

16 harbor, marine terminal, or relevant port 

17 infrastructure; and 

18 (iii) seize ownership or control of land 

19 owned, held, or controlled directly or indi20 rectly by a United States person that is 

21 necessary to access a port, harbor, marine 

22 terminal, or relevant port infrastructure; 

23 and 


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1 (B) the impact of the actions described in 

2 subparagraph (A) on the national security as3 sessment of any such foreign trade partner; and 

4 (4) the Secretary of State shall submit to the 

5 appropriate congressional committees a report on— 

6 (A) the economic implications of actions by 

7 foreign trade partners to— 

8 (i) nationalize, forcibly limit, or expro9 priate land owned, held, or controlled di10 rectly or indirectly by a United States per11 son that is necessary to access a port, har12 bor, marine terminal, or relevant port in13 frastructure; 

14 (ii) repudiate or nullify any contract, 

15 permit, concession, easement, or similar 

16 authorization with a United States person 

17 related to land necessary to access a port, 

18 harbor, marine terminal, or relevant port 

19 infrastructure; and 

20 (iii) seize ownership or control of land 

21 owned, held, or controlled directly or indi22 rectly by a United States person that is 

23 necessary to access a port, harbor, marine 

24 terminal, or relevant port infrastructure; 

25 and 


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1 (B) the impact of the actions described in 

2 subparagraph (A) on the economic assessment 

3 of the investment climate of any such foreign 

4 trade partner. 

5 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

6 For the purposes of this Act: 

7 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com9 mittees’’ means— 

10 (A) in the House of Representatives— 

11 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu12 rity; 

13 (ii) the Committee on Foreign Affairs; 

14 (iii) the Committee on Ways and 

15 Means; and 

16 (iv) the Permanent Select Committee 

17 on Intelligence; and 

18 (B) in the Senate— 

19 (i) the Committee on Homeland Secu20 rity and Governmental Affairs; 

21 (ii) the Committee on Foreign Rela22 tions; 

23 (iii) the Committee on Finance; and 

24 (iv) the Committee on Intelligence. 


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1 (2) FOREIGN TRADE PARTNER.—The term 

2 ‘‘foreign trade partner’’ means a Western Hemi3 sphere country that is party to an active free trade 

4 agreement with the United States; 

5 (3) PASSENGER VESSEL.—The term ‘‘passenger 

6 vessel’’ means a vessel that— 

7 (A) is authorized to carry at least 250 pas8 sengers; 

9 (B) has onboard sleeping facilities for each 

10 passenger; 

11 (C) is on a voyage that embarks or dis12 embarks passengers; and 

13 (D) is not engaged in a coastwise voyage; 

14 (4) PROHIBITED PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘pro15 hibited property’’ means any ports, marine termi16 nals, or harbors that— 

17 (A) are located within the territory of a 

18 foreign trade partner; 

19 (B) are only accessible by land that is 

20 owned, held, or controlled directly or indirectly 

21 by a United States person; and 

22 (C) the departments, agencies, or officials 

23 of such trade partner have on or after January 

24 1, 2024— 


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1 (i) nationalized, forcibly limited, or ex2 propriated the land owned, held, or con3 trolled directly or indirectly by a United 

4 States person that is necessary to access 

5 the port, harbor, marine terminal, or rel6 evant port infrastructure; 

7 (ii) repudiated or nullified any con8 tract, permit, concession, easement, or 

9 similar authorization with a United States 

10 person related to the land necessary to ac11 cess the port, harbor, marine terminal, or 

12 relevant port infrastructure; or 

13 (iii) taken any other action which has 

14 the effect of seizing ownership or control of 

15 the land owned, held, or controlled directly 

16 or indirectly by a United States person 

17 that is necessary to access the port, har18 bor, marine terminal, or relevant port in19 frastructure; 

20 (5) RELEVANT PORT INFRASTRUCTURE.—The 

21 term ‘‘relevant port infrastructure’’ means— 

22 (A) conveyors and other equipment used to 

23 load or unload freight or passenger vessels; 

24 (B) roads and pathways used to load or 

25 unload freight or passenger vessels; 


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1 (C) docks and piers used to load or unload 

2 freight or passenger vessels; 

3 (D) moorings, dolphins, or other structures 

4 used for anchoring freight or passenger vessels; 

5 (E) silos, domes, or other structures used 

6 for the storage of any good, ware, article, mer7 chandise, or other freight; and 

8 (F) offices, facilities, and other buildings 

9 used for the administration and security of the 

10 port or harbor; and 

11 (6) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

12 ‘‘United States person’’ means a United States cit13 izen or corporation, partnership, or association at 

14 least 50 percent beneficially owned by United States 

15 citizens. 

Æ 


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