Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said Wednesday that he is blocking the advancement of all trade nominees until U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer more substantively engages with him about trade issues affecting his constituency.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is blocking advancement of all trade nominees until U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer more substantively engages with him about trade issues affecting his constituency, Scott said Wednesday at the conclusion of a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing for nominees to work in Lighthizer’s agency.
While Scott didn’t specify what issues he would like more engagement on, he said he has heard “crickets” from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative after requesting Lighthizer respond more intensively to his concerns.
Lighthizer met with several senators after the hearing, including Scott, a Trump administration official said. But Scott in a brief interview after the hearing said that he still doesn’t plan to lift the hold at this point.
Responding to a question about the areas he’d like to see more communication, Scott said he’d release more information “when we have more to share.”
Lighthizer, during his own confirmation hearing before the committee, said he’d be “open, transparent and available,” which is partly why Scott supported his confirmation, Scott said during the hearing Wednesday.
But Lighthizer didn’t respond to a recent request by Scott for a call from USTR related to a “trade-specific issue in South Carolina,” Scott said.
“Apparently there was a communication breakdown in our office, and Ambassador Lighthizer did not know Sen. Scott had requested a call,” a USTR spokesperson said in an email.
Both nominees considered Wednesday by the committee – U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization nominee Dennis Shea and Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Investment, Services, Labor, Environment, Africa, China, and the Western Hemisphere nominee C.J. Mahoney – “are very qualified,” Scott said during the hearing.
But he is holding their advancement until he finds “more responsiveness” from Lighthizer, Scott said.
“The reality of it is, I don’t ask for much,” he said. “You can [avoid my personal calls], but you cannot disrespect the companies and the trading partner that is South Carolina.”
More than 500,000 South Carolina jobs depend on trade, and more than 6,000 companies based in that state export goods, Scott said.
Though Scott didn’t describe the substance underlying his complaint, it’s possible his grievance, at least in part, pertains to pending safeguard remedies against large residential washers in parallel with Samsung’s plans to start building a washer manufacturing plant in Newberry, S.C. early this year.
The International Trade Commission in November recommended that President Donald Trump assess a tariff-rate quota for large residential washers imported above an annual threshold of 1.2 million units subject to a 50 percent duty in year one, a 45 percent duty in year two, and 40 percent in year three, exempting imports from all free trade agreement countries except South Korea.
In addition to the ITC’s recommendations, the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee, which includes USTR officials, is expected to soon submit a separate batch of recommendations to Trump for potential remedial action in the safeguard case involving washers.
Outside of Scott’s hold, however, it seems Shea and Mahoney would enjoy the support of the top Finance Republican and Democrat, as both committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voiced their support for the nominees’ confirmation.
Among the priorities of Shea, if confirmed, would be advancing a U.S. proposal tabled at the 11th annual WTO Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December that directs greater transparency in reporting information required by the WTO, he said.
That proposal is set for further consideration this quarter, Shea noted.
Another marquis priority would be fighting China in its WTO case brought in 2016 against the U.S. and EU, calling for those WTO members to recognize it as a market economy for antidumping duty calculation purposes, Shea said.
He noted his divergence with China’s interpretation of its 2001 WTO Accession Protocol that the document calls on all WTO members to treat it as a market economy for AD duty calculation purposes in 2016 and beyond.
Mahoney, among other things, hopes for the strengthening of NAFTA labor, environmental, and currency manipulation provisions, he said.
Mahoney also said the NAFTA renegotiation should balance the sometimes disparate agricultural interests of different parts of the U.S.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., questioned Mahoney about a U.S.-NAFTA proposal to lower the threshold for U.S. seasonal and perishable food producers to be able to bring AD and countervailing duty cases during certain seasons against competing imports from the NAFTA region.
NAFTA has greatly benefited Washington state’s agriculture sector, and growers there are concerned about possible retaliation by other NAFTA parties against U.S. exports of such products stemming from the seasonal duty proposal, which seems to have been motivated by political considerations, Cantwell said.
“I’m not interested in changing NAFTA, with a[n]…agriculture [export] increase for Washington state, for somebody to say, ‘Hey Florida, I did something for tomatoes,’ and basically, ‘Screw the apple or pear or cherry industry,’” Cantwell said. “That’s just not good policy.”
Mahoney responded that “this is an area where we need to strike an appropriate balance.” He also noted that Trade Promotion Authority instructs USTR to give perishable and seasonal growers access to certain import protections.
“We certainly need to take all of this into account,” he said. “My goal is to advance the interests of agriculture, not to undermine it in any way.”
Mahoney has worked as an attorney at Williams & Connolly since 2008, where he represents clients in complex commercial disputes, mostly in international and domestic arbitration, and works in the White Collar Practice Group, where he has represented “individuals and entities in a number of high-profile criminal prosecutions and investigations,” according to his professional bio.
Shea is the founder of Shea Public Strategies, an Alexandria, Va.-based government relations firm, and is currently the vice chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, after he was first appointed to the commission in 2007.
Mahoney and Shea now join USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator nominee Gregory Doud in awaiting the lifting of a senatorial hold. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has blocked Doud’s advancement since November.
Sen. Tim Scott blocks all trade nominees until further notice
