§286gg Elimination of Trade Restrictions

Summary

The Secretary of the Treasury must tell U.S. executive directors at each multilateral development bank and at the Fund to push for financial-assistance rules that lower barriers to trade and investment, stop unfair trade and investment practices, and foster useful economic ties. The Secretary must work with the Trade Policy Committee on this. He must also tell those U.S. directors to encourage bank and Fund staff to cooperate with the World Trade Organization’s Secretariat. Before a bank or the Fund gives a country financial help, the U.S. executive directors must try to get the country to agree to stop unfair trade and investment practices that the U.S. Trade Representative (after talking with the Trade Policy Committee) finds harm the global trading system. Examples include predatory export subsidies for agricultural goods, other export subsidies like below-market loan financing, unreasonable import limits, trade-related rules on foreign investment, and actions that break international agreements. The Treasury must weigh a country’s progress on these issues when deciding U.S. support for loans. If the U.S. backs a loan even though targets were not met, the Treasury must report why to the relevant Congressional committees. Multilateral development banks named here are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.