International Trade

As the chair of the Senate Finance Committee’s subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness, Senator Wyden has worked to ensure that the U.S. is able to compete in a global marketplace.  His work has exposed lapses in U.S. enforcement of trade laws and he has issued multiple reports illustrating how unfair trade practices -- especially those employed in China -- are harming U.S. workers and industries.  Wyden successfully led Senate efforts to back the United Steelworkers petition to get the Obama Administration to launch a trade case against China for its subsidies in the clean energy technology sector and was the first to call on Obama to establish a national strategy on exports.  

In 2008, Wyden authored an amendment to the Lacey Act to combat trade in illegally harvested timber.  Endorsed by labor, timber and environmental groups, the Wyden amendment requires importers of wood products to show documentation that the wood was obtained legally.  This law is being replicated in Europe and Australia and is now part of the U.S. trade negotiating position in international trade talks: requiring  trading partners in the Pacific Rim to similarly discourage illegal logging.

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