Thank you, Chairman Crapo, for holding this hearing for a bipartisan panel of nominees, and thank you to the five candidates before us for being willing to serve.
The International Trade Commission plays a critical role in enforcing our trade laws. That’s how you hold trade cheats accountable and make sure U.S. workers and businesses can compete on a level playing field.
My home state of Oregon depends on trade. The I-T-C’s trade enforcement work helps our farmers and small businesses get a fair shake, so that all Oregonians can benefit. For Oregon agriculture, like onions and sugar beets, this means guarding against unfairly subsidized and dumped imports. For wood products, this means ensuring competition is fair. And for solar, this is about stopping Chinese behemoths from undercutting hard working Americans.
In the last year and a half, most of the United States’ trade and tariff policy has been happening outside of Congress.
In my view, Congress should be playing a much bigger role on setting trade and tariff policies for this country and the constituents we represent.
I have a lot more to say about that, and I expect to have some lively conversations with my colleagues in the future.
But today we’re here for one aspect of our nation’s trade policy that is working the way it’s supposed to, with the Senate Finance Committee doing its job to advise and consent on the nominations to fill five of the commission’s six seats.
The International Trade Commission is a key cog in the trade enforcement machine. It interprets our trade laws, investigates foreign trade cheats, and helps make sure American workers and industries aren’t hurt by unfair trade practices.
The I-T-C’s work is so important for communities in Oregon, I’ve testified at the Commission more times than I can remember—including, about the need to protect U.S. sawmill workers and rural mill communities in Oregon from unfair competition. I’ve also weighed in several times on the I-T-C’s important intellectual property work.
The Commission also advises Congress, providing analyses of how trade issues impact our constituents and industries across America. These reports help ensure that Congress writes laws based on facts and that are in the best interest of the country. Chairman Crapo and I have relied on the I-T-C’s report on censorship as a barrier to digital trade time and time again, as we work to ensure U.S. trade policy exports American values and American products.
Currently, the Commission is operating with only half its seats filled. In the spirit of the World Cup that’s on right now, that’s starting a soccer game with six players on the field.
And because the best trade policy is one that is durable and predictable, it’s important to make sure the Commission is fully staffed with both Republican AND Democratic members. I’m glad to see a bipartisan slate of nominees before us today.
A strong, bipartisan ITC is essential to our nation’s economy, because without strong enforcement, trade laws aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.
I look forward to hearing from these nominees about how they intend to fulfill the I-T-C’s mission.
###
