II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2362 

To establish a process for United States businesses to obtain exclusions 

from certain duties imposed under section 301 of the Trade Act of 

1974 and section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2019 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To establish a process for United States businesses to obtain 

exclusions from certain duties imposed under section 301 

of the Trade Act of 1974 and section 232 of the Trade 

Expansion Act of 1962, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Tariff Relief Act of 2019’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•S 2362 IS

1 SEC. 2. EXCLUSION PROCESS FOR CERTAIN DUTIES IM2 POSED UNDER SECTION 301 OF THE TRADE 

3 ACT OF 1974. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Trade Act of 1974 

5 (19 U.S.C. 2411 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 311. EXCLUSION PROCESS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the first date 

9 after the date of the enactment of this section on which 

10 the United States Trade Representative announces the im11 position of additional duties under section 301, the Trade 

12 Representative shall establish a process under which 

13 United States businesses may request the exclusion of ar14 ticles from duties imposed under that section. 

15 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—A United States business 

16 that seeks the exclusion of an article from duties imposed 

17 under section 301 shall submit to the Trade Representa18 tive information demonstrating that— 

19 ‘‘(1) the article is not available from any source 

20 other than a source that is subject to the duties; or 

21 ‘‘(2) the imposition of such duties on the article 

22 would cause economic harm to a United States in23 terest. 

24 ‘‘(c) DETERMINATIONS.—Not later than 30 days 

25 after receiving a request submitted under subsection (b) 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•S 2362 IS

1 for the exclusion of an article from duties imposed under 

2 section 301, the Trade Representative shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) make a determination with respect to 

4 whether or not to grant the exclusion; and 

5 ‘‘(2) if the Trade Representative determines not 

6 to grant the exclusion, provide to the United States 

7 business that requested the exclusion a rationale for 

8 denying the exclusion. 

9 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION OF REQUESTS.—The Trade 

10 Representative shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) establish a component within the Office of 

12 the United States Trade Representative to be re13 sponsible for reviewing requests for the exclusion of 

14 articles from duties imposed under section 301; and 

15 ‘‘(2) ensure the continued operation of that 

16 component until all duties imposed under that sec17 tion terminate. 

18 ‘‘(e) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 

19 after establishing the process required by subsection (a), 

20 and every 90 days thereafter, the Trade Representative 

21 shall submit to the Committee on Finance of the Senate 

22 and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 

23 Representatives a report that includes detailed informa24 tion about requests made pursuant to the process during 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•S 2362 IS

1 the preceding 90-day period and determinations made 

2 under subsection (c) with respect to those requests. 

3 ‘‘(f) UNITED STATES BUSINESS DEFINED.—In this 

4 section, the term ‘United States business’ means an enti5 ty— 

6 ‘‘(1) organized under the laws of the United 

7 States or any jurisdiction within the United States; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(2) that employs workers in the United 

10 States.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

12 for the Trade Act of 1974 is amended by inserting after 

13 the item relating to section 310 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 311. Exclusion process.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. EXCLUSION PROCESS FOR CERTAIN DUTIES IM15 POSED UNDER SECTION 232 OF THE TRADE 

16 EXPANSION ACT OF 1962. 

17 Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 

18 U.S.C. 1862) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(g) EXCLUSION PROCESS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the first 

22 date after the date of the enactment of this sub23 section on which the President announces the impo24 sition of additional duties under subsection (c), the 

25 Secretary shall establish a process under which 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•S 2362 IS

1 United States businesses may request the exclusion 

2 of articles from duties imposed under that section. 

3 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—A United States busi4 ness that seeks the exclusion of an article from du5 ties imposed under subsection (c) shall submit to the 

6 Secretary information demonstrating that— 

7 ‘‘(A) the article is not available from any 

8 source other than a source that is subject to the 

9 duties; or 

10 ‘‘(B) the imposition of such duties on the 

11 article would cause economic harm to a United 

12 States interest. 

13 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATIONS.—Not later than 30 

14 days after receiving a request submitted under para15 graph (2) for the exclusion of an article from duties 

16 imposed under subsection (c), the Secretary shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) make a determination with respect to 

18 whether or not to grant the exclusion; and 

19 ‘‘(B) if the Secretary determines not to 

20 grant the exclusion, provide to the United 

21 States business that requested the exclusion a 

22 rationale for denying the exclusion. 

23 ‘‘(4) ADMINISTRATION OF REQUESTS.—The 

24 Secretary shall— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•S 2362 IS

1 ‘‘(A) establish a component within the De2 partment of Commerce to be responsible for re3 viewing requests for the exclusion of articles 

4 from duties imposed under subsection (c); and 

5 ‘‘(B) ensure the continued operation of 

6 that component until all duties imposed under 

7 that subsection terminate. 

8 ‘‘(5) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 

9 days after establishing the process required by para10 graph (1), and every 90 days thereafter, the Sec11 retary shall submit to the Committee on Finance of 

12 the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means 

13 of the House of Representatives a report that in14 cludes detailed information about requests made 

15 pursuant to that process during the preceding 90- 

16 day period and determinations made under para17 graph (3) with respect to those requests. 

18 ‘‘(6) UNITED STATES BUSINESS DEFINED.—In 

19 this subsection, the term ‘United States business’ 

20 means an entity— 

21 ‘‘(A) organized under the laws of the 

22 United States or any jurisdiction within the 

23 United States; and 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
7 

•S 2362 IS

1 ‘‘(B) that employs workers in the United 

2 States.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS