Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
A bipartisan coalition of Senate lawmakers on Monday introduced legislation aimed at addressing trade practices perpetuated by China that they say are imperiling American jobs.
Led by Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.), the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act would update existing American trade remedy laws and introduce the concept of “successive investigations” that will make it more difficult for bad actors to circumvent rules and undercut domestic industry.
According to the bill, U.S. firms have fallen victim to increasingly predatory economic behavior from China in recent years, like state-sponsored firms moving portions of production to third countries as a means of skirting duties—a practice the lawmakers characterized as “country hopping,” or the illegal transshipment of goods for ultimate fulfillment to the U.S. Meanwhile, China has made progress on its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which facilitates China-based trade and influence in other markets and provides subsidies to China-operated companies doing business in places across the globe.
According to Senators Smith and Young, American companies with complaints about these practices currently must suffer long wait times and slog through paperwork before the Department of Commerce initiates a new anti-circumvention inquiry. The proposed bill would give the department more tools to address China’s tactics, including successive investigations under antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CD) laws.
These investigations would make it easier for the petitioners to bring new cases when China moves production to another country. Under the law, timelines for investigations would be expedited, and the International Trade Commission (ITC) would be directed to consider new factors in recently closed trade cases and successive cases surrounding the same imported product.
Meanwhile, the Department of Commerce would be imbued with the authority to apply countervailing duty laws to subsidies provided by a government to a company being operated in another country. This would give the department the authority to investigate a China-based firm doing business in Mexico, for example.
“Our bill will protect American jobs and combat China’s unfair trade practices,” said Sen. Young. “China has distorted the free market by dumping undervalued products and subsidizing industries, actions designed to harm American businesses and workers. This legislation will help level the playing field to ensure the United States can outcompete the Chinese Communist Party.”
Sen. Smith added that foreign competitors like China have long engaged in practices that undermine American national security and business.
“This legislation provides more tools for the U.S. to stop illegal dumping and subsidies that have made it impossible for domestic producers and workers to compete,” she said.
Co-sponsors to the legislation include Senators spanning both parties, including Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jon Fetterman (D-Pa.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio).
The bill was originally introduced in 2023 by Young and former Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) as an update to the original Leveling the Playing Field Act of 2015. Signed into law by former President Barack Obama, the legislation codified Department of Commerce trade remedy actions, giving it the ability to gather AD and CD data from non-cooperative foreign companies and governments. It also gave the ITC the ability to assess injury sustained by American manufacturers due to unfairly traded imports.
U.S. Representatives Beth Van Duyne (R-TX-24) and Terri Sewell (D-AL-7) are leading companion legislation to the 2.0 bill in the House of Representatives.
