Sponsor
Richard Lynn Scott
Senator · R-FL
Senator · R-FL
Official title: Clarify the country of origin of certain articles imported into the United States for purposes of certain trade enforcement actions.
Introduced January 21, 2025 by Richard Lynn Scott · Last progress January 21, 2025
The bill strengthens U.S. authority to block or treat as adversary‑origin imports tied to certain foreign actors—giving tools to protect domestic industry and sensitive technology—at the cost of higher prices, supply‑chain disruption, greater compliance burdens, and diplomatic and legal risks.
U.S. enforcement agencies and domestic industries gain stronger authority to identify and restrict imports tied to foreign adversaries, enabling faster tariffs, origin‑treatment, or blocks to protect domestic manufacturers and sensitive technologies.
Customs, USTR, Commerce, and businesses get clearer legal rules through a codified 25% ownership/control threshold and explicit control definitions, improving enforcement certainty and reducing some loopholes.
U.S. authorities can target entities tied to PRC industrial policy, subsidies, or military‑civil fusion, allowing action against state‑backed practices that distort markets and risk sensitive technology transfer.
Importers, small businesses, and consumers face higher costs because products tied to ≥25% foreign‑adversary ownership or control could be subject to new tariffs, restrictions, or treatment as adversary‑origin.
Financial institutions, investors, and counterparties face increased compliance burdens, legal uncertainty, and transaction costs because broad definitions sweep in derivatives, co‑investments, JVs, and other complex financing structures.
Broader attribution rules risk disrupting supply chains and causing near‑term shortages or higher prices for manufacturers and consumers when goods are treated as originating from adversary countries.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Makes goods made by entities owned/controlled (≥25% equity) by listed foreign adversaries subject to U.S. tariffs and trade restrictions as if they originated in the adversary country.
Applies U.S. trade remedies (Section 301, Section 203, and Section 232 authorities) to goods produced, manufactured, or finally assembled by entities that are owned, controlled, or otherwise tied to a listed “foreign adversary” — treating those goods as if they originated in that adversary country. The bill defines a set of foreign adversary countries (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela under Maduro), sets a 25% equity threshold for ownership/control (including indirect holdings, joint ventures, co-investments, derivatives, or contractual arrangements that replicate returns), and adopts a regulatory cross-reference for “control.” The result is that tariffs, safeguard actions, and national-security-based import restrictions that the U.S. takes against a named adversary country would also apply to goods made by companies with specified ties to those adversary governments or economic policies, even if the goods are produced outside the adversary country itself.