Title: Assistance for Firms Harmed by Tariffs on Exports Act
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
Assistance for Firms Harmed by Tariffs on Exports Act
This bill provides financial assistance to companies harmed by retaliatory foreign tariffs.
Specifically, it expands the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms program, which currently provides such assistance to companies adversely affected by competing imported goods and services.
The bill authorizes companies that have seen a significant decrease in sales of exported goods or services, in whole or in part as a result of tariffs imposed by foreign countries in response to U.S. tariff increases, to petition the Department of Commerce for trade adjustment assistance.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6124 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6124

  To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide adjustment assistance to 
  firms adversely affected by reduced exports resulting from tariffs 
  imposed as retaliation for United States tariff increases, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 5, 2020

    Mr. Schneider (for himself, Mr. Sensenbrenner, and Mr. Cooper) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to provide adjustment assistance to 
  firms adversely affected by reduced exports resulting from tariffs 
  imposed as retaliation for United States tariff increases, 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 ``Assistance for Firms Harmed by 
Tariffs on Exports Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In recognition that trade policy can result in 
        disparate and disruptive changes to the economy, the Trade 
        Adjustment Assistance program was enacted to help workers 
        adversely impacted by the trade policy decisions of the Federal 
        Government.
            (2) The Trump Administration has made clear that it intends 
        to aggressively use Federal trade statutes, including section 
        232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862) and 
        section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411), and 
        potentially the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 
        (Public Law 95-223), to increase tariffs on selected imports.
            (3) Foreign countries affected by such tariff increases 
        have, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, already 
        raised tariffs on United States exports or have indicated that 
        they intend to respond by raising tariffs on such exports.
            (4) Increased tariffs on such exports threaten to reduce 
        employment in affected sectors of the United States economy.
            (5) Firms adversely impacted by these effects deserve 
        adjustment assistance.

SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR FIRMS.

    Subparagraph (C) of section 251(c)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2341) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(C) either--
                    ``(i) increases of imports of articles or services 
                like or directly competitive with articles which are 
                produced or services which are supplied by such firm 
                contributed importantly to such total or partial 
                separation, or threat thereof, and to such decline in 
                sales or production; or
                    ``(ii)(I) exports of articles or services produced 
                or supplied by such firm have decreased as a result, in 
                whole or in part, from tariffs imposed on such exports 
                by a foreign country in response to United States 
                tariffs imposed on the imports of such country pursuant 
                to an action taken under the authority of--
                                    ``(aa) section 232 of the Trade 
                                Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862);
                                    ``(bb) section 301 of the Trade Act 
                                of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411); or
                                    ``(cc) the International Emergency 
                                Economic Powers Act (Public Law 95-
                                223); and
                    ``(II) the decrease in such exports contributed 
                importantly to such total or partial separation, or 
                threat thereof, and to such decline in sales or 
                production.''.
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