This bill requires the President to receive congressional approval in order to proclaim or increase the rates of duty (i.e., tariffs) on articles imported into the United States from covered countries. Under the bill, a covered country is one of the five countries with the highest volume of U.S. agricultural goods imported into the country in the preceding fiscal year, as determined by the President. The bill treats the European Union and its member countries as a single country.
Specifically, the President may proclaim a new or additional covered duty (e.g., a duty proclaimed pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962) on an article imported into the United States from a covered country only if (1) the President submits to Congress a request for authorization to proclaim or increase the duty and the request contains specified information, such as a description of the objective the President seeks to achieve with the action and an assessment of the likely impact on the U.S. agricultural economy; and (2) a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law.