Sponsor
Ronald Lee Wyden
Senator · D-OR
Senator · D-OR
The bill increases congressional oversight and transparency of U.S. trade policy—reducing the risk of sudden tariff shocks and adding accountability—at the cost of slower, more politicized responses and reduced executive flexibility in urgent trade or national-security situations.
Congress and taxpayers gain final approval over major trade restrictions and any binding trade agreements, increasing legislative control and democratic accountability for trade policy.
Consumers and small businesses are protected from sudden import surcharges or quota proclamations (eliminating balance-of-payments proclamation authority), lowering the risk of abrupt price spikes or costly temporary tariffs.
National-security trade actions will follow a clearer, more transparent process (presidential concurrence, reporting, and set congressional deadlines), improving predictability and oversight of security-related trade measures.
Small domestic producers, exporters, and taxpayers could face slower relief from unfair trade acts or sudden import surges because remedies and new trade deals would often require congressional approval, prolonging market harm and delaying market access.
Shifting major decision-making from the President/USTR to Congress risks politicizing trade responses and reducing executive negotiating leverage in fast-moving or technical disputes.
Changing USTR's placement and removing 'at the pleasure of the President' language could create tenure ambiguities or legal disputes over removals, generating uncertainty for agency leadership and operations.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Removes certain presidential trade proclamation powers, requires congressional approval for major trade remedies and binding trade agreements, and makes USTR an independent agency with an inspector general.
Official title: Reclaim the authority of Congress over the imposition of duties and other trade actions, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by Ronald Lee Wyden · Last progress July 22, 2026
Repeals several statutory authorities that let the President and executive agencies unilaterally impose import restrictions (including balance-of-payments surcharges and discrimination-based duties), requires congressional approval for major USTR section 301 actions and for trade agreements, and changes the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative into an independent agency with a statutory inspector general. It also narrows the President’s decision-making role for national-security import findings and changes reporting/decision procedures tied to section 232 national-security investigations. The bill shifts several trade powers from executive discretion to explicit congressional control, restructures USTR’s placement in law and tenure language for the Trade Representative and deputies, and creates a 120-day statutory deadline for appointment of an Inspector General for the Office.