Minerals and Materials Fair Competition Act of 1987

Summary

Minerals and Materials Fair Competition Act of 1987 - Title I: Actions Against Unreasonable Trade Practices - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to direct the President, within 21 days after the date on which the United States Trade Representative (USTR) makes an affirmative determination that a foreign country has engaged in unreasonable trade practices with respect to any nonagricultural, fungible goods, to impose a limitation on the quantity of such goods that may be imported equal to the quantity that was imported during a period in which no unreasonable trade practices were engaged in by such country. Revises the definition of "unreasonable" as used under such Act to include acts which: (1) deny fair and equitable market or business enterprise opportunities; (2) fail to provide adequate protection of intellectual property rights; and (3) provide, directly or indirectly, any subsidy to increase the capacity to produce a nonagricultural, fungible good for which existing worldwide production already significantly exceeds worldwide demand. Defines any act, policy, or practice as burdening or restricting the United States if such act, policy, or practice threatens to have an adverse impact on U.S. commerce. Outlines actions to be taken by the USTR in obtaining information from a foreign country in the course of any investigation to determine whether such country is engaged in an unreasonable trade practice, including receiving documentation and verification of all information to be relied upon as part of any such investigation. Authorizes the USTR to disregard any information that is untimely, incomplete, or not documented or verified to the satisfaction of the USTR. Requires the USTR, within eight months after the initiation of an unreasonable trade practice investigation, to make a determination regarding such investigation, and, if such determination is in the affirmative, to recommend actions that the President should take to eliminate such acts, policies, or practices. Requires such determinations to be published by the USTR in the Federal Register. Title II: Negotiating Objectives - Defines as a principal negotiating objective under the Trade Act of 1974 the obtaining of an agreement that imposes sanctions against the provision of government subsidies for increasing the production capacity of a nonagricultural, fungible good for which existing worldwide production already significantly exceeds worldwide demand. Title III: Relief From Import Competition - Revises provisions relating to investigations by the International Trade Commission (ITC) to determine eligibility for import relief from injury caused by import competition to include as appropriate circumstances justifying such relief an increase in the worldwide capacity to produce the article under investigation if the article is a nonagricultural, fungible article and such increase is likely to result in increased imports of the article or result in the reduction or suppression of the price of the article in domestic or worldwide markets. Directs the President, in determining what actions to take in providing import relief to damaged parties, to: (1) consult with the interagency trade organization created under the Trade Expansion Act of 1972 and consider the recommendations and written analyses of such organization; and (2) take into account written analyses prepared and submitted to the President by the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, and the USTR containing specified information on the effect of import relief on consumers and the industry involved. Requires the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Commerce, and the USTR to solicit, receive, and evaluate comments from interested parties in preparing their written analyses. Directs the written analyses and recommendations made by the interagency trade organization referred to above to be made available to the public at the time they are submitted to the President. Expands the import relief options available to the President to include the entering into of multilateral negotiations to prevent or remedy the injury if the injury is not susceptible to unilateral solution by the United States, including injury (or threat of injury) from excess worldwide capacity to produce a specified article. Authorizes the ITC to recommend to the President, after a finding that injury is present for which import relief is justified, that the President enter into multilateral negotiations to prevent or remedy the injury, if the ITC determines that the United States cannot remedy such injury by unilateral action. Directs the ITC to consider the potential for evasion of remedies prescribed, and to include in their recommendations to the President any means that could be used by the President to prevent such evasion. Authorizes the President to take any appropriate actions to avoid such evasions. Title IV: Antidumping and Countervailing Duties - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to direct the ITC, when conducting a countervailing or antidumping duty investigation, to consider whether excess worldwide capacity to produce the merchandise in question has had an effect on reducing or suppressing the price of the merchandise in the United States. Directs the ITC to take the same question into consideration when determining whether material injury has been suffered or is threatened. Title V: International Financial Institutions - Amends the Bretton Woods Agreements Act to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (the Fund) to present proposals to the Executive Board of the Fund at the earliest practicable time to ensure that countries experiencing a shortfall in export earnings from nonagricultural fungible commodities due to a decline in prices as a result of a world surplus cannot borrow from the compensatory financing facility of the Fund unless such country enters into an agreement with the Fund to adjust production and not add further to the excess capacity of the product, and to take any other necessary action to stabilize the market for such commodity. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. Executive Director of the Fund to vote against the provision of any loans from the Fund to countries producing surplus commodities before the Executive Board implements the above provision. Directs the Secretary, beginning 90 days after the enactment of this Act and at 90-day intervals until three years after the enactment of this Act, to submit a report to the President and the Congress listing all reports which have been circulated in the international financial institutions during the preceding 90 days for project assistance which would establish or enhance the capacity of any country other than the United States to produce a commodity for export if: (1) such commodity is in world surplus or is likely to be in surplus if such projects are permitted; and (2) such assistance will cause substantial injury to U.S. producers of the commodity involved. Requires such report to also describe requests by any of the major copper-producing countries for assistance from the Fund. Directs the Secretary to instruct the U.S. representatives to the international financial institutions to take into account the effect that adjustment assistance would have on individual industry sectors and international commodity markets.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 21 April 1987

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.