WaPo Quotes Pomper, Willems on Trade Aspect of US Semiconductor Bills

For its article “Time is running out for a deal on the China competitiveness bill,” The Washington Post quoted Akin Gump public law and policy practice co-head Brian Pomper and partner Clete Willems on prospects for what it calls one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, a bill to strengthen U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and help the U.S. compete with China.

Pomper, who served as chief international trade counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, said of the gap between two current bills—one from the Senate, the other from the House—on the topic of trade, “That’s really where the two sides are the farthest apart. And, I mean, they are universes apart.”

He added that, if negotiations fail in conference between Republicans and Democrats on reconciling differences between the two bills, lawmakers may discard the trade provisions and pass a more limited bill: “If you really get jammed up on the trade title, I think you’re going to see some members starting to say, ‘Well, why don’t we just ditch the trade title? And let’s do the rest of this bill, which is going to be a lot easier to figure out’.”

Willems, who served in the Trump White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics, said that the trade language in the Senate bill was “the linchpin that was needed” to pass it last year. He said, “So I think it’s going to be ultimately included.”