Trade and Development Act of 2000

Trade and Development Act of 1999 - Title I: Extension of Certain Trade Benefits to Sub-Saharan Africa - Subtitle A: Trade Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa - African Growth and Opportunity Act - Declares the support of Congress for: (1) encouraging increased trade and investment between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa; (2) reducing tariff and nontariff barriers and other obstacles to sub-Saharan and U.S. trade; (3) negotiating reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade agreements, including the possibility of establishing free trade areas that serve the interests of both the United States and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa; (4) focusing on countries committed to accountable government, economic reform, the eradication of poverty, and the development of political freedom; and (5) establishing a United States-Sub-Saharan African Economic Cooperation Forum.Subtitle B: Extension of Certain Trade Benefits to Sub-Saharan Africa - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize the President to designate a sub-Saharan African country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country eligible to receive duty-free treatment, through September 30, 2006, for any non-import-sensitive article (except for textile luggage) that is the growth, product, or manufacture of such country, if the President determines that such country: (1) has established, or is making continual progress toward establishing, a market-based economy, a democratic society, an open trading system, economic policies to reduce poverty, and a system to combat corruption and bribery; (2) does not engage in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights or provide support for acts of international terrorism; and (3) otherwise satisfies applicable eligibility requirements.(Sec. 111) Directs the President to monitor and review the progress of sub-Saharan countries to determine their current or potential eligibility under the requirements of this Act.Waives the competitive need limitation with respect to eligible beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.(Sec. 112) Grants duty-free treatment, without any quantitative limitations, to textile and apparel articles (including textile luggage) imported from a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country, if such country: (1) adopts an efficient visa system to guard against unlawful transshipment of such goods and the use of counterfeit documents; and (2) enacts legislation or promulgates regulations that would permit U.S. Customs verification teams to have the access necessary to investigate allegations of transshipment through the country. Directs the President to deny trade benefits under this Act to any exporter that has engaged in transshipment with respect to textile or apparel products from a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country.Directs the Customs Service to monitor, and report annually to Congress, on the effectiveness of certain anti-circumvention systems and on measures taken by sub-Saharan African countries that export textiles or apparel to the United States to prevent circumvention as described in article 5 of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.Authorizes the President to impose appropriate remedies, including restrictions on or the removal of quota-free and duty-free treatment provided under this Act, in the event that textile and apparel articles from a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country are being imported in such increased quantities as to cause serious damage (or actual threat thereof) to the domestic industry producing like or directly competitive articles.(Sec. 113) Directs the President to convene annual meetings between U.S. Government officials and officials of the governments of sub-Saharan African countries to foster close economic ties between them. Directs the President to establish a United States-Sub-Saharan African Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum which shall discuss expanding trade and investment relations between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa.(Sec. 114) Directs the President to examine, and report to specified congressional committees, the feasibility of negotiating a free trade agreement with interested sub-Saharan African countries.(Sec. 116) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) it is in the interest of the United States to take all necessary steps to prevent further spread of infectious disease, particularly HIV-AIDS; and (2) there is critical need for effective incentives to develop new pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and therapies to combat the HIV-AIDS crisis, especially effective global standards for protecting pharmaceutical and medical innovation in countries like sub-Saharan Africa. Prohibits funds appropriated to Federal agencies from being obligated to seek the revocation or revision of any intellectual property or competition law or policy that regulates HIV-AIDS pharmaceuticals or medical technologies of a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country if such law or policy promotes access to such pharmaceuticals or technologies and provides adequate intellectual property protection consistent with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.Title II: Trade Benefits for Caribbean Basin - Subtitle A: Trade Policy for Caribbean Basin Countries - United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Enhancement Act - Sets forth congressional findings and policy.Subtitle B: Trade Benefits for Caribbean Basin Countries - Amends the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to accord, for a specified transition period, the same preferential tariff and quota treatment (lower tariffs or duty-free treatment, free of any quantitative limitations) given certain textile and apparel articles imported from North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries to such articles from United States- Caribbean Basin Trade Enhancement Act (CBTEA) beneficiary countries which have demonstrated commitments to: (1) undertake their obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) on or ahead of schedule; (2) participate in negotiations toward completion of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (or comparable trade agreement); (3) undertake other steps necessary for their accession to the FTAA or comparable trade agreement; (4) follow accepted rules of international trade; (5) protect intellectual property rights; (6) protect U.S. investors and investments; (7) provide the United States and other WTO nations market access; (8) provide internationally recognized worker rights; (9) meet certain counter-narcotics certification criteria for eligibility for U.S. assistance; and (10) become a party to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (including becoming a party to a convention regarding the extradition of its nationals). Subjects to certain penalties exporters or countries that engage in the transshipment of such articles (preferential treatment claimed on the basis of material false information concerning the country of origin, manufacture, processing, or assembly of the article or any of its components).(Sec. 211) Directs the President to report periodically to Congress concerning CBTEA beneficiary countries.Directs the United States International Trade Commission to report biennially to Congress and the President on the economic impact of this Act on U.S. industries and consumers, including the effectiveness in promoting drug-related crop eradication and crop substitution efforts of the CBTEA beneficiary countries.(Sec. 212) Authorizes the President to determine that a country is not providing adequate protection of intellectual property rights under its laws, even if it is in compliance with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.Subtitle C: Cover Over of Tax on Distilled Spirits - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require, for the period after June 30, 1999, the treasury of Puerto Rico to make a Conservation Trust Fund transfer within 30 days from the date of each cover over payment made after such period to such treasury under provisions of the Code concerning shipments to the United States.Title III: Generalized System of Preferences - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to extend the Generalized System of Preferences through June 30, 2004.(Sec. 302) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require, with a specified exception, merchandise (including merchandise of different classes, types, and categories) withdrawn from a foreign trade zone during any seven-day period to be treated upon entry (at the option of the operator or user of the zone) as a single entry and a single release of merchandise for purposes of customs user fees. Authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to require an operator or user of the zone to use an electronic data interchange to file such entries and to pay such user fees.Title IV: Trade Adjustment Assistance - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize appropriations to the Department of Labor through FY 2001 for: (1) trade adjustment assistance to displaced workers and firms; and (2) the North American Free Trade Agreement Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program.(Sec. 402) Directs the Secretary of Labor to certify as eligible to receive trade adjustment assistance workers in textile and apparel firms who lose their jobs or are threatened with job loss as a result of either: (1) a decrease in the firm's sales or production; or (2) a firm's plant or facility closure or relocation.Title V: Revenue Provisions - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit, in general, the use of the installment method of accounting for accrual method dispositions.(Sec. 502) Modifies rules relating to the exemption of certain ten or more employer plans from welfare benefit fund provisions.(Sec. 503) Treats as an ordinary gain to the extent it exceeds the net underlying long-term capital gain any gain from a constructive ownership transaction with respect to specified financial assets which would otherwise be treated as a long-term capital gain. Provides that, to the extent such gain is treated as a long-term capital gain after treatment as an ordinary gain, the determination of the applicable capital gain rate (or rates) shall be determined on the basis of the respective rate (or rates) that would have been applicable to the net underlying long-term capital gain. Requires the tax on ordinary gain to be increased by the amount of interest (compounded semiannually) that would have been imposed for underpayment of tax with respect to each prior taxable year during any portion of which the constructive ownership transaction was open. Sets forth definitions and exceptions.(Sec. 504) Makes the nonaccrual experience method of accounting available only for amounts to be received for certain personal services.(Sec. 505) Provides that, as a general rule, a transfer to a corporation controlled by the transferor of an interest in intangible property shall be treated as a transfer of property in a nonrecognition transaction even if the transfer is of less than all of the substantial rights of the transferor in the property. Prescribes the allocation of basis in such a transaction between transferor and transferee.(Sec. 506) Increases the withholding rate for nonperiodic distributions from ten to 15 percent.Title VI: Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers - Subtitle A: Amendments to the Trade Act of 1974 - Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers Act - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize a group of agricultural commodity producers to file with the Secretary of Agriculture a petition for a certification of eligibility to apply for trade adjustment assistance. Sets forth specified group eligibility requirements. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine whether the petitioning group meets such requirements and, if so, to issue a certification of eligibility to apply for such assistance.(Sec. 602) Requires the International Trade Commission to notify the Secretary of Agriculture immediately whenever it begins an investigation into whether an agricultural commodity is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause or threat of serious injury to a domestic industry producing an agricultural commodity like or directly competitive with the imported agricultural commodity. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture, upon such notification, to study and report to the President and the public on: (1) the number of agricultural commodity producers who have been or are likely to be certified as eligible for trade adjustment assistance; and (2) the extent to which the adjustment of such procedures to the import competition may be facilitated through the use of existing programs.Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide agricultural commodity producers with information about trade adjustment assistance petition and application producers, benefit allowances, training, and other employment services.Sets forth certain eligibility requirements for the payment of trade adjustment assistance to adversely affected agricultural commodity producers. Limits to $10,000 the maximum annual amount of cash benefits a producer may receive.Provides for the repayment and recovery of overpayment of trade adjustment assistance made to such producers due to fraud. Sets forth penalties.Authorizes appropriations to the Department of Agriculture for FY 2000 through 2001.Subtitle B: Revenue Provisions Relating to Trade Adjustment Assistance - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to real estate investment trusts (REITs). Modifies the asset diversification test for a REIT to: (1) allow up to 20 percent of total assets at the close of each quarter to be represented by securities of one or more taxable REIT subsidiaries; and (2) disregard in calculating the permissible 25 percent of total assets represented by securities any straight debt meeting specified requirements.(Sec. 612) Excludes from impermissible tenant service income (thus including as rents from real property meeting the requirements of a REIT) any amount received or accrued by the REIT for services furnished or rendered, or management or operation provided, through a taxable REIT subsidiary.Sets forth a special rule including in rents from real property, if specified rental and lodging facility requirements are met, any amounts paid to a REIT by a taxable REIT subsidiary.(Sec. 613) Defines taxable REIT subsidiary.(Sec. 614) Disqualifies for the corporate deduction for interest on indebtedness any interest paid or accrued (directly or indirectly) by a taxable REIT subsidiary to the REIT (earnings stripping).(Sec. 615) Imposes on a REIT a tax equal to 100 percent of redetermined rents, redetermined deductions, and excess interest.(Sec. 617) Sets forth a special foreclosure rule for health care properties acquired by a REIT as the result of the termination of a lease of such property (other than a termination by reason of a default, or the imminence of a default, on the lease).Requires the disregard of income derived or received by a REIT from an independent contractor to the extent it is attributable to: (1) any lease of property in effect on the date the REIT acquired the qualified health care property; (2) any lease of property entered into after such date if a lease of such property from the trust was in effect on such date, and under the terms of the new lease, the REIT receives a substantially similar or lesser benefit in comparison to the first kind of lease.(Sec. 618) Reduces from 95 percent to 90 percent of REIT income and of the excess of the net income from foreclosure property over the tax on foreclosure property specified components of the formula for determination of the amount of dividend deductions which help establish the taxability of REIT income.Reduces from 95 percent to 90 percent of REIT gross income a specified component of the formula for determining the amount of tax imposed on a REIT for failure to meet certain requirements.(Sec. 619) Requires that only persons who own, directly or indirectly, more than five percent of a certain class of stock regularly traded on an established securities market be taken into account as owning any of the stock of such class for purposes of the 35-percent ownership rule determining whether a person is (under 35-percent ownership) or is not (over 35-percent ownership) an independent contractor for purposes of determining rents from real property, and of the special rules for foreclosure property, with respect to REIT taxation.(Sec. 620) Declares that any distribution by a regulated investment company (RIC) made in order to comply with certain tax requirements shall be treated as made from the earliest earnings and profits accumulated in any taxable year to which certain other requirements did not apply (non-RIC year) rather than the most recently accumulated earnings and profits.(Sec. 621) Revises rules for calculating the annualized estimated income installment for a corporation where such installment would be lower than a prescribed amount. Declares that any dividend received from a closely held REIT by any person which owns ten percent or more (by vote or value) of the stock or beneficial interests in the REIT shall be taken into account in computing annualized income installments in a manner similar to the manner under which partnership income inclusions are taken into account. Defines closely held REIT as one with respect to which five or fewer persons own 50 percent or more (by vote or value) of the stock or beneficial interests in the REIT.(Sec. 622) Requires a REIT not to be a controlled entity. Defines controlled entity as one in which, at any time during the taxable year, one person (other than a qualified entity): (1) in the case of a corporation, owns stock possessing at least 50 percent of the total voting power of the corporations's stock, or having a value equal to at least 50 percent of the total value of the corporation's stock; or (2) in the case of a trust, owns beneficial interests in the trust which would meet requirements for a corporation if such interests were stock. Provides that a REIT is not a controlled entity, but is instead a qualified entity, even if it meets the criteria for a controlled entity, but the person owning the stock or beneficial interests is either itself a REIT, or a partnership in which one REIT owns at least 50 percent of the capital and profits interests in the partnership.Excludes from the meaning of controlled entity an incubator REIT meeting specified stock, mortgage asset, and investment capital criteria.(Sec. 623) Revises, with respect to the individual estimated tax safe harbor, the 1999 through 2002 and thereafter scale of the applicable percentage of a preceding year's tax for an individual whose adjusted gross income exceeds $150,000.Title VII: Other Trade Provisions - Authorizes the President to: (1) determine that title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (denying nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of certain countries) should no longer apply to Albania and Kyrgyzstan; and (2) based upon such determinations, extend nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) to Albanian and Kyrgyzstan products.(Sec. 703) Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of Federal and State coordination of employment and retraining activities associated with: (1) trade adjustment assistance (including NAFTA trade adjustment assistance) provided under title II of the Trade Act of 1974; (2) the Job Training Partnership Act; (3) the Workforce Investment Act; and (4) unemployment insurance.(Sec. 704) Requires the Secretary of Labor to certify qualified workers (who are covered under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Certification TA-W-28,438, and were necessary for the decommissioning or closure of a nuclear power facility) as eligible to apply for trade adjustment assistance.(Sec. 705) Directs the President to report to Congress on his recommendations for bilateral debt relief for sub-Saharan African countries, including recommendations for new loan, credit, and guarantee programs for such countries, and an assessment of how debt relief will affect their ability to participate fully in the international trading system.(Sec. 706) Directs the President, in selecting issues of common interest to the U.S.-Sub-Saharan African Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, to instruct the U.S. delegates to the Forum to promote a review by the Forum of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in each sub-Saharan African country and the effect of such epidemic on human and social development there.(Sec. 707) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to include the manufacture of goods by forced or indentured child labor within the prohibition on the importation of goods manufactured by forced labor or and indentured labor.(Sec. 708) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to reliquidate as free of duty certain customs entries of nuclear fuel assemblies and to refund any duties paid thereon.(Sec. 709) Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the appropriate executive branch officials should implement the call for Japan to undertake a major regulatory reform in the telecommunications sector, namely the Telecommunications Big Bang; (2) the Telecommunications Big Bang must address fundamental legislative and regulatory issues within a defined timeframe, including putting competition first in order to encourage new and innovative businesses to enter the Japanese telecommunications market; (3) the Government of Japan should ensure that Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and its affiliates (the NTT Group) are prevented from using their dominant position in the wired and wireless market in an anticompetitive manner; and (4) the Government of Japan should take specified steps to ensure that competitive carriers have reasonable, cost-based, and nondiscriminatory access to the rights-of-way, facilities, and services controlled by NTT, the NTT Group, other utilities, and the Government of Japan.(Sec. 710) Requires the submission of specified reports to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.(Sec. 711) Amends the Uruguay Round Agreements Act to revise rules of origin for textile and apparel products to provide, for purposes of the customs laws and the administration of quantitative restrictions, that certain fabrics of silk, cotton, man-made fiber, or vegetable fiber, and certain other silk accessories shall be considered to originate in, and be the growth, product, or manufacture of, the country, territory, or possession in which the fabric is both dyed and printed when accompanied by two or more of specified finishing operations.(Sec. 712) Establishes in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) the position of Chief Agricultural Negotiator, who shall be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Requires the Chief to conduct trade negotiations and enforce trade agreements relating to U.S. agricultural products and services, as well as perform other functions as the USTR may direct.(Sec. 713) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to provide that if the United States initiates a retaliation list (list of products of a foreign country that has failed to comply with the report of the panel or Appellate Body of the WTO), or the USTR takes specified trade action against the goods of a foreign country because of its failure to implement the recommendation made pursuant to a dispute settlement proceeding under the WTO , the USTR shall periodically revise the list or action to affect the other goods of the country. Declares that the USTR is not required to revise the retaliation list or the action with respect to a country, if: (1) the USTR determines that implementation of the recommendation by the country is imminent; or (2) the USTR together with the petitioner involved in the initial unfair trade investigation (or if no petition was filed, the affected U.S. industry) agree that it is unnecessary to revise the retaliation list.(Sec. 714) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) Congress and the President should work together to make comprehensive debt relief available to heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) in a manner that promotes economic growth and poverty alleviation; (2) this program of debt relief should also support the adoption of policies to alleviate poverty and ensure that benefits are shared widely among the population, such as through initiatives to advance education, improve health, combat AIDS, and promote clean water and environmental protection; (3) no country should receive debt relief if it does not cooperate with the United States on terrorism or narcotics enforcement, is a gross violator of human rights of its citizens, or is engaged in conflict or spends excessively on its military; and (4) in order to prevent adverse impact on a key industry in many developing countries, the IMF must mobilize its own resources for providing debt relief to eligible countries without allowing gold to reach the open market, or otherwise adversely affecting the market price of gold.(Sec. 715) Directs the Secretary of Labor to report to specified congressional committees on: (1) the applicability of trade adjustment assistance programs to agricultural commodity producers; and (2) recommendations to improve such programs or the establishment of new trade adjustment assistance programs for such producers.(Sec. 716) Authorizes the Department of Agriculture to conduct a two-year study on ways to improve the flow of American farming techniques and practices to African farmers. Authorizes appropriations.(Sec. 717) Expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should encourage the accession of sub-Saharan African countries to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.(Sec. 718) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should work with the international community (particularly Africa) and other nations to strengthen international cooperation to combat desertification.(Sec. 719) Recognizes the importance of the new round of international trade negotiations that will be launched at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle, Washington, from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Directs the USTR to report to Congress regarding discussions on the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (the Antidumping Agreement) and the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures during the Seattle Ministerial Conference (including proposals to renegotiate such agreements).(Sec. 720) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe and implement regulations that require certain jewelry that enters the U.S. customs territory to have the English name of the country of origin indelibly marked in a conspicuous place by cutting, die-sinking, engraving, stamping, or some other permanent method to the same extent as such marking is required for Native American-style jewelry under specified Federal regulations.(Sec. 721) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the U.S. trade policy should (while taking into account the conditions of U.S. producers, especially those currently facing tariff phase-outs negotiated under prior trade agreements) place a priority on the elimination or amelioration of tariff inversions that undermine the competitiveness of U.S. consuming industries.(Sec. 722) Bars benefits granted under this Act to any country that does not meet and effectively enforce the standards regarding child labor established by the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention (No. 182) for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Directs the President to report annually to Congress on its enforcement.(Sec. 723) Sets forth certain U.S. agricultural trade negotiating objectives with respect to the WTO negotiations.(Sec. 724) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a waiver to the denial of a foreign tax credit to certain foreign countries with respect to taxes paid or accrued to a country if the President determines, and meets specified reporting requirements, that such waiver is in the national interest of the United States and will expand trade and investment opportunities for U.S. companies there.(Sec. 725) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to revise, for purposes of trade relief action by the USTR, the definition of acts, policies, and practices that are unreasonable to include any act, policy, or practice of a country (or any combination thereof) that denies fair and equitable market opportunities, including the toleration by a foreign government of systematic anti-competitive activities, which include predatory pricing, discriminatory pricing, or pricing below cost of production by enterprises or among enterprises in the foreign country (including state trading enterprises and state corporations) if such acts, policies, or practices are inconsistent with commercial practices and have the effect of restricting access of U.S. goods or services to the foreign market or third country markets.