House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), House Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2017 (MTB) on November 9.
The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) temporarily reduces or suspends the import tariffs paid on particular products imported into the United States which are not made in America.
The recently introduced MTB would enhance the competiveness of U.S. manufacturers by reducing the tariffs on products and components that are not made in the U.S. Since the last MTB expired at the end of 2012, manufacturers have paid billions of dollars of tariffs.
The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016, which became law on May 20, 2016, created an entirely new process for determining which products will be included in an MTB.
Previously, Congress had played the predominant role in the MTB process. Under the new process, the task of collecting petitions requesting reduced or suspended tariffs on particular products, public comment and making a final determination on whether to include a requested product in an MTB falls to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). The USITC also obtains input from other Federal agencies, including the Department of Commerce.