Elizabeth Esty on Free Trade

Sponsored imposing import fee on countries with undervalued currency.

Congressional Summary:Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to include a countervailing duty or antidumping duty on merchandise imported into the US from foreign countries with fundamentally undervalued currency.

• Defines the [amount subject to the import fee as] ) the amount of currency such country would have provided if the real effective exchange rate of its currency were not fundamentally undervalued.
• Determines that the currency of a foreign country is fundamentally undervalued if for an 18-month period the government of the country engages in protracted, large-scale intervention in one or more foreign exchange markets; and the country has experienced significant and persistent global current account surpluses; and the country's government has foreign asset reserves exceeding the amount necessary to repay all its debt obligations falling due within the coming 12 months.

Opponent's argument against bill: (by the Club for Growth)We urge all House members to not co-sponsor the protectionist Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act. This proposal would make it easier for the federal government to slap

$25B more loans from Export-Import Bank.

This bill raises the cap on outstanding loans, guarantees, and insurance of the Export-Import Bank of the United States for FY2015-FY2022 and afterwards. The Bank shall:

• Provide technical assistance to small businesses on how to apply for financial assistance from the Bank;
• Establish programs under which private financial institutions may share risk in the loans, guarantees, and other Bank products in exchange for receiving fees received from program participants.
• The Bank may enter into up to $25 billion worth of contracts of reinsurance, co-finance, or other risk-sharing arrangements on its portfolio or individual transactions with insurance companies, financial institutions, or export credit agencies.

Opponents reasons for voting NAY: (Washington Examiner, 12/2/12): The Export-Import Bank is a taxpayer-backed agency that finances U.S. exports, primarily though loan guarantees. You'd think the bank would spread the money around to nurture up-and-coming businesses. You'd be wrong, very wrong. In fact, 83% of its taxpayer-backed loan guarantees in 2012 went to just one exporter: Boeing. Welcome to the "New Economic Patriotism," where the big get bigger and taxpayers bear the risk. Ex-Im is at the heart of Obama's National Export Initiative and is a pillar of the economic patriotism that Obama pledged in a second term. When government hands out more money, the guys with the best lobbyists and the closest ties to power will disproportionately get their hands on that money. Obama has spent four years pushing more subsidies, more bailouts and more regulations. "New Economic Patriotism" basically amounts to a national industrial policy -- Washington championing certain major domestic companies and industries, as if the global economy were an Olympic competition.