STABLE Trade Policy Act

Bill: 119-s-348
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
Introduced: 2025-01-30
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Subjects: Alliances

Congressional oversight

Congressional-executive branch relations

Legislative rules and procedure

Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents

Tariffs

Trade agreements and negotiations

Trade restrictions
Latest action: action_date: 2025-01-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-01-30
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Stopping Tariffs on Allies and Bolstering Legislative Exercise of Trade Policy Act or the STABLE Trade Policy Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the President to receive congressional approval in order to proclaim or increase the rates of duty (i.e., tariffs) on articles imported into the United States from covered countries. Under the bill, a covered country is (1) a member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), (2) a country that has been designated as a major non-NATO ally under the Foreign Assistance Act of&nbsp;1961 (e.g., Australia, Israel, and Japan), or (3) a country that has in effect a free trade agreement with the United States.</p><p>Specifically, the President may proclaim a new or additional covered duty (e.g., a duty proclaimed pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962) on an article imported into the United States from a covered country only if (1) the President submits to Congress a request for authorization to proclaim or increase the duty and the request contains specified information, such as a description of the objective the President seeks to achieve with the&nbsp;action and an assessment of the likely impact on the U.S. economy; and (2) a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law.</p>

tv_txt: II 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 348 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES January 30, 2025 Mr. Coons (for himself and Mr. Kaine ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To limit the authority of the President to impose new or additional duties with respect to articles imported from countries that are allies or free trade agreement partners of the United States.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Stopping Tariffs on Allies and Bolstering Legislative Exercise of Trade Policy Act or the STABLE Trade Policy Act . 2. Limitation on authority of the President to impose duties on allies and free trade agreement partners of the United States (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Covered country The term covered country means— (A) a member country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; (B) a country that has been designated as a major non-NATO ally under section 517 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2321k ); or (C) a country that has in effect a free trade agreement with the United States. (2) Covered duty The term covered duty means a duty proclaimed pursuant to— (A) section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ( 19 U.S.C. 1862 ); (B) section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 ( 19 U.S.C. 1338 ); (C) the Trading with the Enemy Act ( 50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. ); or (D) the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ( 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. ). (b) Authority To proclaim or increase duty rates Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President may proclaim a new or additional covered duty with respect to an article imported into the United States from a covered country, only if— (1) the President submits to Congress a request for authorization to proclaim or increase the duty that includes— (A) a description of the objective the President seeks to achieve through the proclamation or increase of the duty; (B) an explanation of why such objective cannot be achieved more effectively through diplomatic engagement, trade dispute resolution processes, or other mechanisms; (C) an assessment of the likely impact of the duty on the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States; and (D) an assessment of the likely impact of the proposal on the economy of the United States as a whole and on any relevant industry sector; and (2) a joint resolution of approval under subsection (c) is enacted into law. (c) Joint resolution of approval (1) Joint resolution of approval defined In this subsection, the term joint resolution of approval means a joint resolution the sole matter after the resolving clause of which is as follows: That Congress authorizes the President to proclaim duty rates as set forth in the request of the President submitted to Congress on ___________ , with the blank space being filled with the date of the request submitted under subsection (b)(1). (2) Introduction A joint resolution of approval may be introduced in either House of Congress by any Member during the 15-legislative day period beginning on the date on which the President submits to Congress the request under subsection (b)(1). (3) Expedited procedures The provisions of subsections (b) through (f) of section 152 of the Trade Act of 1974 ( 19 U.S.C. 2192 ) apply to a joint resolution of approval to the same extent that such subsections apply to joint resolutions under such section 152. (4) Rules of the Senate and the House of Representatives This subsection is enacted by Congress— (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, and as such is deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively, but applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed in that House in the case of a joint resolution of approval, and supersedes other rules only to the extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and (B) with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that House.