States Take Action: Recent Letters and Resolutions

With a Congressional hearing in July on improving the federal trade advisory system, and national associations meeting to adopt important resolutions on trade and federalism, states have been busy this summer making their voices heard on new approaches to national trade policy.

Many of the states with trade oversight commissions submitted testimony to the Trade Subcommittee of House Ways & Means, suggesting ways in which Congress and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) could improve its interaction with state lawmakers and public officials. Different states proposed different approaches to accomplishing this objective. Vermont called for a brand-new federal-state consultation process co-managed with USTR that is simple in structure, respects principles of state sovereignty, and allows for additional state access to trade data and texts. Maine and New Hampshire submitted recommendations for creating a Federal-State International Trade Policy Commission and a Center on Trade & Federalism.