Disapproving the Rule Submitted By the Department of Commerce Relating to ``Procedures Covering Suspension of Liquidation, Duties and Estimated Duties in Accord with Presidential Proclamation

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Trade of the Committee on Ways and Means, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. General Leave

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Res. 39.

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of overriding President Biden's veto of H.J. Res. 39, a Congressional Review Act resolution disapproving of the rule submitted by the Department of Commerce relating to Procedures Covering Suspension of Liquidation, Duties, and Estimated Duties in accord with Presidential Proclamation 10414.

Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, the Ways and Means Committee held a hearing at the Port of Staten Island in New York to listen to working Americans who are on the front lines of the impact of our trade policies.

Witnesses highlighted for the committee the troubling reality that the Chinese Communist Party continues to engage in a wide range of unfair trade practices that rip off American workers, farmers, and businesses.

Today's resolution highlights one of the most prolific of these unfair practices--massive subsidies for the CCP's favored industries.

Today's resolution is focused on the solar industry, but make no mistake, the CCP's industrial policy impacts all sectors of the American economy.

The United States has had tariffs in place since 2012--during the Obama administration--to provide a level playing field for American manufacturers who face unfair competition from unfairly priced and subsidized solar products coming out of China.

Now, President Biden's own Commerce Department has found that Chinese companies are shipping products through four Southeast Asian countries--Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam--to avoid paying these same tariffs.

China has set up a solar panel export scheme that cheats American workers and consumers. Instead of standing up for American manufacturers and workers, the White House rewarded China for exploiting them by issuing a proclamation that allows the CCP to continue to avoid paying the tariffs they owe for an additional 2 years.

The sad truth is the solar panel industry in China is historically one of the most prolific users of forced labor.

This body stood together not too long ago to pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. We should do the same thing now when it comes to actually standing firm against products and industries which have a proven track record of using such terrible practices.

Republicans and Democrats in this Chamber and in the Senate came together to block implementation of the White House proclamation on solar panels just a few weeks ago.

In doing, so we also sent a message to President Xi: We will not allow China to abuse our trade policies and hurt American workers.

Unfortunately, President Biden doubled down on his misguided decision and vetoed our efforts. America must stand up to China and stand up for our workers.

Small businesses and U.S. manufacturers already have to deal with inflation, rising interest rates, and a worker shortage.

The least Washington can do is level the playing field for American workers competing against Chinese state-subsidized companies.

China's unfair trade practices have left behind a trail of shuttered factories, lost jobs, and stolen intellectual property all across America.

When we voted to roll back the White House's misguided decision on solar panel tariffs, Congress spoke with a bipartisan voice in both Chambers. I hope today we can do the same.

I urge my colleagues to once again support this effort to turn out the lights on China's economic exploitation.

Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the veto override on H.J. Res. 39.

In the past 5 months, the Republican-led House of Representatives has taken more action to hold China accountable for its unfair trade practices than the past 4 years that I have been in Congress, all while the Biden administration is actively working to promote Chinese interests.

The Biden administration is allowing the Communist Chinese Party to outmaneuver us at every step, even rewarding them by vetoing bipartisan legislation that puts America first.

Letting Chinese solar companies cheat directly handicaps U.S. solar manufacturers and puts America at a disadvantage.

Washington Democrats and the Biden administration have been in lockstep with China since they entered the White House.

It baffles me that the administration is so quick to put America last to help China succeed. We need a strategic decoupling from China.

Everyone in the United States should be focused on countering Chinese influence by bringing jobs back to America and implementing solid trade agreements with our allies.

It is imperative that we override this veto.

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that the overall U.S. trade remedy system is retrospective.

Final duties are always calculated after a product enters the United States upon completion of an investigation or review.

We have hundreds of anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders in place to level the playing field for American producers. In all these cases, the final duties have been calculated at the end of the investigation.

What is unusual about the solar circumvention case was the action by the Biden administration to encourage importation of these products despite the fact that China is trading them unfairly.

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Mr. Speaker, this veto override supports American workers and manufacturers in the solar sector, but it also helps protect American workers in every sector that face unfair competition from China or any other country.

Our trade laws are designed to level the playing field so that American workers can compete and win. We have hundreds of trade remedy orders in place to do exactly that for many American industries.

These laws aren't worth the paper they are written on unless they are enforced. Overriding this veto is an important way for Congress to show that we will insist on strong trade enforcement for American workers, farmers, and manufacturers of any product that faces unfair competition from China or any other country.

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, there are few times that I would have yielded time to the gentleman from Michigan, but I would have for that opportunity to finish.

Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know well, the Chinese Communist Party has an egregious human rights record. There is a clear connection between these human rights abuses and the CCP's solar industry.

Mr. Speaker, I call attention to the full and complete testimony of Nury Turkel, a Uyghur human rights lawyer and chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which was held before the Committee on Ways and Means during a field hearing in Staten Island, New York, on May 9, 2023, titled: ``Trade in America: Securing Supply Chains and Protecting the American Worker--Staten Island. The testimony can be found on the Ways and Means Committee website.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Turkel's testimony highlights the ongoing human rights abuses and religious persecution being perpetrated against Uyghurs by the Chinese Communist Party.

I am disappointed that President Biden vetoed this important resolution. This is unacceptable. We must step up to hold China accountable for its human rights abuses.

For years, China has been engaged in a long list of unfair trade practices. It is these practices that are harming American workers. They cost communities their jobs and create an unfair playing field.

We are here today to end the misguided reward that the White House gave China for one of those unfair practices: shipping solar products through four Southeast Asian nations to dodge paying U.S. tariffs.

That is simply what we are talking about here. That is it. That is how you protect American workers.

It is not allowing the Chinese, the CCP, to have a competitive advantage over our manufacturers and over our American workers. But if it is for solar panels, wait, it is okay for the Chinese to subsidize that. It is okay for American workers to lose their jobs unfairly because we don't want to put a tariff on the CCP.

It is extremely important that even the Department of Commerce, President Biden's Department of Commerce, is the one that suggested there should be tariffs on these four countries because they are the ones that identified these four countries being misused by the CCP.

That is what we are trying to do, is to follow Biden's Department of Commerce. Unfortunately, Biden himself is not even following his own Department of Commerce because he is more on the side of his special interest groups instead of the American workers who are losing their jobs because this resolution, his veto, basically allows more Chinese solar panels in without tariffs, and they are not doing anything about it.

That is why, in a bipartisan measure, both in the House and in the Senate, we voted to reverse President Biden, including the Finance Committee chair over on the other side, a Democrat, who voted to reverse the President's proposal.

The problem is we don't have enough Democrats that will join us. We have just a few, but I am thankful for the few who want to stand up to the CCP.

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