Agricultural Trade Enforcement Task Force

(a) Establishment Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall establish a joint task force to be known as the Agricultural Trade Enforcement Task Force (in this section referred to as the Task Force). (b) Membership The Task Force shall be comprised of the following members: (1) Employees of the Foreign Agricultural Service of the Department of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. (2) Employees of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, who shall— (A) be appointed by the General Counsel and the Chief Agricultural Negotiator; and (B) have appropriate expertise in agricultural trade policy and trade enforcement. (3) Employees from other Federal agencies as determined by the United States Trade Representative or the Secretary of Agriculture. (c) Duties (1) In general The Task Force shall— (A) identify trade barriers to agriculture exports of the United States that are vulnerable to dispute settlement under the World Trade Organization or other trade agreements to which the United States is a party; (B) develop and implement a strategy for enforcing violations of trade agreements related to those trade barriers; (C) identify like-minded trading partners that could act as co-complainants or primary complainants on disputes relating to specific trade barriers that are systemically or economically important to the United States; and (D) report to Congress pursuant to subsection (d). (2) Consultation In carrying out the duties under paragraph (1), the Task Force shall regularly consult, to the extent necessary and appropriate, with the following: (A) Relevant stakeholders in the private sector, including the agricultural trade advisory committees. (B) Federal agencies that are not represented on the Task Force. (C) Like-minded trading partners that are similarly concerned with trade barriers and are potential participants in a dispute settlement process. (d) Reports (1) In general Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than quarterly thereafter, the Task Force shall submit to Congress a report on the progress of the Task Force in identifying and addressing trade barriers to agriculture exports of the United States. (2) Elements Each report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include the following: (A) The systemic and economically significant trade barriers that have been identified by the Task Force. (B) A justification for including those trade barriers in the report. (C) The progress that has been made in developing dispute settlement cases and an assessment of whether further information is required. (D) The current status of ongoing disputes and the implementation of panel decisions, arbitration decisions, or decisions by the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization. (3) Confidential information (A) In general The Task Force shall remove from each report submitted under paragraph (1) any information determined by the Task Force to be confidential. (B) Briefing For each report required to be submitted under paragraph (1), the United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Agriculture shall provide to members of Congress, congressional staff, and cleared advisors a briefing on the information determined by the Task Force to be confidential and removed from the report pursuant to subparagraph (A). (e) Consultations with India (1) In general The Task Force shall include as part of the first report required under subsection (d)(1) a plan for filing a request for consultations under the World Trade Organization with respect to the price supports implemented by the Government of India with respect to agricultural products, which shall include other members of the World Trade Organization that have been identified and approached as potential co-complainants. (2) Elements The plan required under paragraph (1) shall include— (A) specific claims that the United States Trade Representative intends to make during the consultations requested pursuant to the plan; and (B) a timeline for— (i) requesting those consultations; and (ii) requesting the establishment of a panel under the World Trade Organization in the event that the Government of India fails to provide a satisfactory path to compliance by the date that is 60 days after the date of receipt of the request for consultations.