Title: Anti-Trafficking Trade Act of 2018
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
Anti-Trafficking Trade Act of 2018
This bill amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require the President to suspend a country's designation of beneficiary developing country for one year if that country does not meet the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 as reported annually by the Department of State. Such designation provides a country with duty-free treatment of its goods to the United States.
The bill also provides a process for downgrade of a country's classification (after notification) of watch list countries named in the annual State Department report.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2308 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2308

 To provide for the suspension of the eligibility for the Generalized 
System of Preferences of countries that fail to meet minimum standards 
   for the elimination of human trafficking, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2018

  Mr. Menendez (for himself and Mr. Portman) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the suspension of the eligibility for the Generalized 
System of Preferences of countries that fail to meet minimum standards 
   for the elimination of human trafficking, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Anti-Trafficking Trade Act of 
2018''.

SEC. 2. SUSPENSION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR COUNTRIES THAT FAIL TO MEET 
              MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF HUMAN 
              TRAFFICKING.

    Section 502(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2462(b)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Countries that fail to meet minimum standards for the 
        elimination of human trafficking.--
                    ``(A) Tier 3 countries.--
                            ``(i) Suspension of designation.--Not later 
                        than 90 days after the submission to Congress 
                        of an annual report on trafficking in persons, 
                        the President shall, for each country listed as 
                        a tier 3 country in that report that is 
                        designated as a beneficiary developing country 
                        for purposes of this title, suspend that 
                        designation for one year.
                            ``(ii) Prohibition on designation.--During 
                        the 1-year period beginning on the date that is 
                        90 days after the submission to Congress of an 
                        annual report on trafficking in persons, the 
                        President may not designate a country listed as 
                        a tier 3 country in that report as a 
                        beneficiary developing country for purposes of 
                        this title.
                    ``(B) Tier 2 watch list countries.--Not later than 
                90 days after the submission to Congress of an annual 
                report on trafficking in persons, the President shall, 
                for each country listed as a tier 2 watch list country 
                in that report, notify the government of that country 
                that a downgrade to the classification of the country 
                to classification as a tier 3 country in the next 
                annual report on trafficking in persons will result in 
                the suspension of the designation of the country as a 
                beneficiary developing country or the ineligibility of 
                the country for designation as a beneficiary developing 
                country, as applicable.
                    ``(C) Waiver.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The President may waive 
                        a requirement of subparagraph (A) with respect 
                        to a country if, not later than 90 days after 
                        the submission to Congress of the annual report 
                        on trafficking in persons that lists the 
                        country as a tier 3 country, the President 
                        submits to the appropriate congressional 
                        committees a letter stating that the government 
                        of the country has taken concrete actions to 
                        implement the principal recommendations with 
                        respect to that country in the report.
                            ``(ii) Requirements.--A letter submitted 
                        under clause (i) with respect to a country 
                        shall--
                                    ``(I) include a description of the 
                                concrete actions that the government of 
                                the country has taken to implement the 
                                principal recommendations described in 
                                that clause;
                                    ``(II) be accompanied by supporting 
                                documentation providing credible 
                                evidence of each such concrete action, 
                                including copies of relevant laws or 
                                regulations adopted or modified, and 
                                any enforcement actions taken, by that 
                                country, where appropriate;
                                    ``(III) include a certification 
                                that all eligible articles originating 
                                from the country are not included on 
                                the list of goods produced by child 
                                labor or forced labor maintained by the 
                                Department of Labor and are otherwise 
                                reasonably believed to be free of 
                                forced labor;
                                    ``(IV) include any public comments 
                                received from civil society 
                                organizations with respect to the laws 
                                and practices of the country regarding 
                                trafficking in persons; and
                                    ``(V) be published in the Federal 
                                Register.
                            ``(iii) Limitation on waiver.--The 
                        President may not exercise the waiver authority 
                        under clause (i) with respect to a country for 
                        more than one year.
                    ``(D) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Annual report on trafficking in 
                        persons.--The term `annual report on 
                        trafficking in persons' means the annual report 
                        on trafficking in persons required under 
                        section 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Victims 
                        Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)).
                            ``(ii) Appropriate congressional 
                        committees.--The term `appropriate 
                        congressional committees' means--
                                    ``(I) the Committee on Ways and 
                                Means and the Committee on Foreign 
                                Affairs of the House of 
                                Representatives; and
                                    ``(II) the Committee on Finance and 
                                the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
                                the Senate.
                            ``(iii) Tier 2 watch list country.--The 
                        term `tier 2 watch list country' means a 
                        country on the list of countries required by 
                        clause (ii) or (iii) of section 110(b)(2)(A) of 
                        the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 
                        (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(2)(A)).
                            ``(iv) Tier 3 country.--The term `tier 3 
                        country' means a country on the list of 
                        countries required by section 110(b)(1)(C) of 
                        the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 
                        (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)(C)).''.
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