II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3708 

To provide the President with authority to enter into certain plurilateral 

trade agreements with benefits only applying to signatories of those 

agreements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2022 

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

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide the President with authority to enter into certain 

plurilateral trade agreements with benefits only applying 

to signatories of those agreements, 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 ‘‘Trading System Pres5 ervation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 


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1 (1) The World Trade Organization (in this sec2 tion referred to as the ‘‘WTO’’) was established to 

3 be a forum for multilateral trade negotiations be4 tween member countries. 

5 (2) Scant negotiating progress has been made 

6 at the WTO since its creation in 1995, including 

7 through the failed Doha Round, which was initiated 

8 20 years before the date of the enactment of this 

9 Act. 

10 (3) The inability to reach negotiated outcomes 

11 at the WTO has pushed the multilateral trading sys12 tem to the brink of irrelevance and created incen13 tives for members of the WTO to pursue their trade 

14 policy objectives through litigation rather than nego15 tiation. 

16 (4) That lack of negotiating progress can be 

17 generally attributed to a small minority of WTO 

18 members that, for a variety of reasons, have exer19 cised an effective veto over negotiations, effectively 

20 prohibiting agreement on new rules to discipline dis21 criminatory practices. 

22 (5) Most favored nation (in this section referred 

23 to as ‘‘MFN’’) obligations, strictly defined, which 

24 appear to generally require equal treatment of all 

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1 quality plurilateral agreements because of concerns 

2 about free ridership by WTO members who are not 

3 party to those agreements. 

4 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con5 gress that— 

6 (1) the WTO system affords a variety of flexi7 bilities for WTO members to negotiate and conclude 

8 plurilateral agreements without extending the bene9 fits negotiated therein to the entire membership of 

10 the WTO on an MFN basis; 

11 (2) to reinvigorate the multilateral trading sys12 tem and advance its trade interests, the United 

13 States should exercise its rights to negotiate new 

14 sectoral trade agreements with other interested 

15 WTO members on a plurilateral basis; 

16 (3) to facilitate those negotiations, enable a 

17 high level of ambition, and avoid lowest common de18 nominator outcomes, any new benefits negotiated 

19 under those new agreements should be limited to the 

20 participants and not extended to the entire member21 ship of the WTO; and 

22 (4) pursuing plurilateral agreements that are 

23 not subject to unconditional MFN will enable the 

24 United States to work with like-minded countries 

25 within the framework of the WTO to develop new 


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1 rules to discipline discriminatory, trade distorting, 

2 and non-market practices, restore the relevance of 

3 the multilateral trading system, and expand trade to 

4 the benefit of the citizens of the United States. 

5 SEC. 3. BRIEFING ON PLURILATERAL AGREEMENTS WITH 

6 BENEFITS APPLYING ONLY TO SIGNATORIES 

7 OF THOSE AGREEMENTS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the United States Trade 

10 Representative shall provide to the Committee on Finance 

11 of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of 

12 the House of Representatives a classified briefing on the 

13 feasibility and advisability of pursuing and adopting cov14 ered plurilateral trade agreements. 

15 (b) ELEMENTS.—The briefing required under sub16 section (a) shall include a discussion of the opportunities, 

17 obstacles, feasibility, and advisability of negotiating and 

18 adopting covered plurilateral trade agreements. 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) COVERED PLURILATERAL TRADE AGREE21 MENT.—The term ‘‘covered plurilateral trade agree22 ment’’ means a sector-specific agreement within the 

23 framework of the World Trade Organization involv24 ing foreign countries or foreign territories that form 

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1 zation that does not extend benefits on a most fa2 vored nation basis. 

3 (2) MOST FAVORED NATION.—The term ‘‘most 

4 favored nation’’, with respect to requirements relat5 ing to a trade agreement, means requirements under 

6 the World Trade Organization for nondiscriminatory 

7 trade treatment among all parties to the agreement. 

8 SEC. 4. NEGOTIATING AND TRADE AGREEMENTS AUTHOR9 ITY FOR CERTAIN PLURILATERAL AGREE10 MENTS WITH BENEFITS APPLYING ONLY TO 

11 SIGNATORIES OF THOSE AGREEMENTS. 

12 (a) INITIATION OF NEGOTIATIONS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to enhance the eco14 nomic well-being of the United States, the President 

15 shall initiate negotiations for a covered plurilateral 

16 trade agreement under this section when the Presi17 dent determines that it is in the national interest to 

18 do so. 

19 (2) LIMITATION.—The President may not ini20 tiate negotiations for a covered plurilateral trade 

21 agreement under this section until the date on which 

22 the United States Trade Representative provides the 

23 briefing required by section 3(a). 

24 (b) AUTHORITY FOR AGREEMENTS.— 


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

2 competitiveness of the United States by improving 

3 trade relations with countries similarly interested, 

4 the President may enter into covered plurilateral 

5 trade agreements in a sector of the economy speci6 fied in subsection (d). 

7 (2) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The au8 thority under paragraph (1) terminates on July 1, 

9 2027. 

10 (c) MODIFICATIONS PERMITTED.— 

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

12 the President may proclaim such modification or 

13 continuance of any existing duty or continuance of 

14 existing duty-free or excise treatment as the Presi15 dent determines to be required or appropriate to 

16 carry out an agreement entered into under sub17 section (b). 

18 (2) LIMITATION.—Substantial modifications to, 

19 or substantial additional provisions of, an agreement 

20 entered into after July 1, 2027, are not covered by 

21 the authority under paragraph (1). 

22 (d) SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY SPECIFIED.—A sec23 tor of the economy specified in this subsection is any of 

24 the following sectors: 

25 (1) E-commerce and digital services. 


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1 (2) Pharmaceuticals and medical counter2 measures. 

3 (3) Environmental goods. 

4 (4) Services. 

5 (5) Any sector that is subject to substantial in6 terference by a foreign government, including 

7 through excessive subsidies or state-owned enter8 prises. 

9 (e) CONSULTATION WITH AND NOTIFICATION TO

10 CONGRESS.—The President shall consult with Congress 

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

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

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

14 (f) PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES.— 

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

16 the President may determine which foreign countries 

17 or foreign territories to negotiate with toward an 

18 agreement under this section and, after the imple19 mentation of any such agreement, the President 

20 may, as conditions warrant, identify and engage in 

21 negotiations with additional countries or territories 

22 that wish to accede to the agreement. 

23 (2) NON-MARKET ECONOMY COUNTRY.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The President may not 

25 negotiate an agreement under this section with 


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1 a foreign country or foreign territory deter2 mined to be a non-market economy country 

3 pursuant to section 771(18) of the Tariff Act of 

4 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(18)). 

5 (B) AFTER ENTRY INTO FORCE.—A for6 eign country or foreign territory described in 

7 subparagraph (A) may accede to a completed 

8 agreement negotiated pursuant to this section 

9 after entry into force of the agreement if a joint 

10 resolution is first enacted approving the acces11 sion of that country to the agreement. 

12 (g) BILLS QUALIFYING FOR TRADE AUTHORITIES

13 PROCEDURES.— 

14 (1) IMPLEMENTING BILLS.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The provisions of sec16 tion 151 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

17 2191) apply to a bill of either House of Con18 gress which contains provisions described in 

19 subparagraph (B) to the same extent as such 

20 section 151 applies to implementing bills under 

21 that section. A bill to which this paragraph ap22 plies shall hereafter in this section be referred 

23 to as an ‘‘implementing bill’’. 

24 (B) PROVISIONS SPECIFIED.—The provi25 sions described in this subparagraph are— 


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1 (i) a provision approving a trade 

2 agreement entered into under this section 

3 and approving the statement of adminis4 trative action, if any, proposed to imple5 ment such trade agreement; and 

6 (ii) if changes in existing laws or new 

7 statutory authority are required to imple8 ment such trade agreement or agreements, 

9 only such provisions as are strictly nec10 essary or appropriate to implement such 

11 trade agreement or agreements, either re12 pealing or amending existing laws or pro13 viding new statutory authority. 

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

15 procedures under paragraph (1) apply to imple16 menting bills submitted with respect to trade agree17 ments entered into under this section before July 1, 

18 2027. 

19 (h) RELATIONSHIP TO BIPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL

20 TRADE PRIORITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF

21 2015.—An agreement under this section shall not enter 

22 into force with respect to the United States and an imple23 menting bill shall not qualify for trade authorities proce24 dures under subsection (g), including an agreement that 

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1 menting bill in connection therewith, unless the following 

2 requirements under the Bipartisan Congressional Trade 

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

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

5 or implementing bill to the same extent as would be re6 quired of an agreement entered into under section 103(b) 

7 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4202(b)), notwithstanding the expi8 ration of authority to enter into an agreement under such 

9 section 103(b): 

10 (1) The trade negotiating objectives under sec11 tion 102 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4201). 

12 (2) The congressional oversight and consulta13 tion requirements under section 104 of that Act (19 

14 U.S.C. 4203). 

15 (3) The notification, consultation, and reporting 

16 requirements under section 105 of that Act (19 

17 U.S.C. 4204). 

18 (4) The implementation procedures under sec19 tion 106 of that Act (19 U.S.C. 4205). 

20 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 (1) COVERED PLURILATERAL TRADE AGREE22 MENT.—The term ‘‘covered plurilateral trade agree23 ment’’ means a sector-specific agreement within the 

24 framework of the World Trade Organization involv25 ing foreign countries or foreign territories that form 


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1 a subset of the members of the World Trade Organi2 zation that does not extend benefits on a most fa3 vored nation basis. 

4 (2) MOST FAVORED NATION.—The term ‘‘most 

5 favored nation’’, with respect to requirements relat6 ing to a trade agreement, means requirements under 

7 the World Trade Organization for nondiscriminatory 

8 trade treatment among all parties to the agreement. 

Æ 


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