Congress Should Support the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act

In June of this year, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Todd Young (R-IN), along with Reps. Terri Sewell (AL-07) and Bill Johnson (OH-06), introduced the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act (S.1856 and H.R.3882), an updated version of the Leveling the Playing Field Act which was introduced back in 2015. The Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act is a bipartisan piece of legislation that aims to improve U.S. trade laws and protect Americans from the unfair practices of trade law violators, particularly Chinese-owned companies.

Senator Young had this to say when the act was introduced: “Our bipartisan bill will protect American jobs and combat China’s unfair trade practices. 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.”

The bill would implement tools that allowing the Department of Commerce to challenge China’s most threatening practices:

  • Successive Investigation — A new type of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties (AD/CVD) investigation meant to combat repeat offenders like China.

  • Improved CVD laws — As it stands, the Department of Commerce can apply CVD laws to subsidies of only countries under investigation and not third-party countries where the country under investigation may be operating. The bill would allow the Department of Commerce to apply CVD laws to subsidies provided by a government to a company operating in a different country, like China does though its Belt and Road Initiative, for example.

  • Clearer Processes and Timelines — The bill would enforce statutory requirements for anti-circumvention inquiries to clarify the process, deadlines, and timeline.

China has taken advantage of and damaged our trade system for far too long. Congress needs to support the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act in order to protect our domestic economy and to preserve the values that Americans hold most dear.

Ainsley Shea