Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on the President’s executive order creating a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center within the office of the United States Trade Representative.
“When U.S. trading partners violate their obligations, the U.S. trade representative’s office already should be taking the lead and working with other agencies to take action as needed. I’m skeptical that a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center is necessary to ramp up enforcement against trading partners who are playing fast and loose with trade rules. There’s nothing to stop the United States from bringing more cases now. I plan to press the trade representative on the need for this new entity when he comes before the Senate Finance Committee soon. If this new center gets up and running, there should be real results to back up the presidential pronouncement. The pressure will be on the White House to deliver.”