WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) cosponsored the bipartisan Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act to push back against China’s anti-free market practices by providing the Department of Commerce with more tools to crack down on unfair trade practices that hurt American workers and businesses.
“For too long, bad actors have rigged the system to put American industries and our workers at an unfair disadvantage. The bipartisan Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Actgives us the tools we need to hold them accountable and stop them from gaming the system,” said Senator Gallego. “By strengthening our trade laws, we level the playing field for American businesses.”
The bill targets China’s unfair trade practices, specifically its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which provides subsidies to Chinese companies doing business abroad, and “country hopping,” where Chinese-supported companies move portions of production to other countries to evade U.S. tariffs.
The Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act would:
- Establish “successive investigations” to make it easier to bring new cases against repeat trade violators when they move production to another country;
- Expedite successive investigations and create new factors for the International Trade Commission to consider how new cases relate to previous ones for the same imported product;
- Provide the Department of Commerce the authority to apply countervailing duties to companies receiving subsidies from foreign governments;
- Impose statutory requirements for anti-circumvention inquiries to clarify the process and timeline; and
- Specify deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.
The bipartisan bill is supported by key industries, including the steel and manufacturing sectors.
The Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act builds on the original Leveling the Playing Field Act, which became law in 2015.
Read the full bill HERE.