Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Opportunities in the Americas Act”.
Opportunities in the Americas Act
A BILL
To reinforce commercial relationships with Latin American and Caribbean allies and expand critical supply chains in the Americas.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds the following:
Our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere play a vital role in ensuring regional peace, security, and democracy.
According to the United States Trade Representative, in 2020 the United States exported $11.1 billion worth of goods to Caribbean Basin Initiative countries and imported $5.1 billion.
According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2021 the United States exported $174.62 billion worth of goods to Central and South America and imported $120.99 billion.
The economic viability of the Western Hemisphere brings essential strength and stability to the region.
There is significant opportunity to improve regional investment in manufacturing, co-production and nearshoring arrangements, and the free flow of goods and services in the Western Hemisphere.
Closer economic integration among the Americas through free trade agreements encourages further economic and commercial ties in the region.
The United States should exercise its influence to encourage private sector investment, free markets, and economic cooperation in the region.
Countries in the Western Hemisphere should combat corruption, strengthen their judicial systems, reduce bureaucratic red tape, streamline permitting, and embrace free markets in order to encourage more private sector investment.
The Western Hemisphere has a supply chain that is overly dependent on the People’s Republic of China.
The United States free trade agreements and preference programs in the Western Hemisphere, including the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, are key economic drivers in the region and represent a crucial alternative co-production and trading bloc to the People’s Republic of China.
Ensuring that critical supply chains for key products, including textiles and apparel, lithium batteries, and pharmaceuticals, are located both in the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere is a national security priority for the United States.
The United States should enact policies that incentivize manufacturers to relocate to the Western Hemisphere, and United States companies to expand operations in the region through nearshoring and co-production arrangements.
Increased investment incentives, co-production, and trade between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean will foster joint economic and commercial growth, increase investment opportunities, and contribute to job creation.
Sec. 3 Assistance provided by the United States International Development Finance Corporation
Use of funds—
In general— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the DFC shall use not less than 10 percent of the amounts made available under any provision of law to the DFC for each fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act to finance the qualified moving costs and necessary workforce development costs and the qualified costs of expanding business of, and reduce the interest rate on any loan to be provided by the DFC to the interest rate described in paragraph (4) to, any qualified corporation that is eligible for, or a recipient of, assistance from the DFC, to the extent of qualifying applications for assistance under this section.
Coordination— The DFC shall carry out this section in coordination with—
relevant Federal agencies, including the United States Trade and Development Agency, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the United States Agency for International Development;
relevant international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank;
relevant nongovernmental organizations; and
relevant governments of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Availability of unused amounts— If the DFC does not use the entire amount described in paragraph (1) for a fiscal year as described in such paragraph, such amount shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be made available to the DFC for the next fiscal year, in addition to other available funds, to carry out this section or other DFC programs for qualified Latin American or Caribbean countries.
Interest rate described— The interest rate described in this paragraph is—
the Federal funds rate; or
the interest rate that is determined by reducing by not less than 1/2 of 1 percent and not more than 1 percent (but to not less than zero percent) the interest rate on the loan to be provided by the DFC to the qualified corporation,
No negative effects on employment in the United States— The DFC shall not provide assistance under this section unless the Secretary of Commerce has determined that the provision of the assistance would not result in a negative effect on employment in the United States.
Disposition of unused assistance— A corporation to which financing is made under this section shall remit to the DFC any portion of the assistance that is not expended within 4 years after the date the financing is made.
Conditions on provision of loans— The DFC—
may provide loans under this section to a corporation only if the loans are commercially viable, as determined by the DFC; and
shall determine an appropriate amount of time for repayment of loans under this section to a corporation.
Conditions on receipt of assistance—
In general— The DFC may not provide assistance under this section to a corporation unless—
the DFC determines that the corporation will create jobs in the qualified Latin American or Caribbean country to which it moves operations or expands business in numbers determined by the DFC to be commensurate with the assistance provided;
the DFC determines that the corporation will expand its business operations in the Western Hemisphere if it already does business in a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country;
the corporation makes a binding commitment to the DFC that, on and after the date the assistance is provided—
neither the corporation nor any owner of the corporation will have an ownership relationship with the Government of the People’s Republic of China or the Chinese Communist Party, the Government of the Russian Federation, or any other foreign adversary;
neither the corporation nor any owner of the corporation will have a significant contractual or supplier relationship with the People’s Republic of China; and
the corporation—
will not have its headquarters in the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, or any other foreign adversary; and
will not have a majority of its operations in the People’s Republic of China and a majority of its revenue will not be generated in the People’s Republic of China;
the corporation, when receiving funding in relation to qualified moving costs—
makes a binding commitment to the DFC that it will submit to the DFC a report specifying the progress it is making to move its operations from the People’s Republic of China to the qualified Latin American or Caribbean country; and
makes a binding commitment to the DFC that it will move all assets of the corporation with respect to which the assistance is provided to a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country; and
the corporation will retain all assets of the corporation with respect to which the assistance is provided in a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country after the date described in subparagraph (C) or the last day of the extension described in subparagraph (E), as the case may be.
Compliance determinations—
In general— The DFC, in coordination with the Department of State and the United States Trade Representative, shall make all determinations regarding compliance with the provisions of paragraph (1).
Non-compliance actions— If the DFC has reduced the interest rate on any loan provided by the DFC to a qualified corporation to the interest rate described in subsection (a)(4) and the corporation is subsequently determined by the agency not to be in compliance with the provisions of subsection (a), the DFC shall adjust the interest rate on such loan or any other loan to be provided by the DFC to the corporation to the prevailing market interest rate.
Plan— Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the DFC shall develop and submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a plan to streamline the provision of assistance under this section, including to expedite the approval process for the provision of such assistance.
Progress reports— Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 15 years, the DFC shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report on progress made in providing assistance under this section.
Sunset— This section shall have no force or effect on or after the date that is 15 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Sec. 4 Expenses paid for with tariffs collected from the People’s Republic of China
Establishment of trust fund— There is established in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund consisting of such amounts as are appropriated to such trust fund under subsection (b).
Appropriations to trust fund— There are hereby appropriated to such trust fund amounts equivalent to the tariffs collected by the United States on goods manufactured in the People’s Republic of China.
Appropriations from trust fund— There are hereby appropriated from such trust fund to the General Fund of the Treasury amounts equivalent to the reduction in revenue to such General Fund by reason assistance provided by the DFC under section 3.
Timing of transfers, etc— Rules similar to the rules of section 9601 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply with respect to appropriations to and from such trust fund under subsections (b) and (c).
Sec. 5 Initiatives for technical assistance for grid improvement and energy efficiency
The DFC, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy and the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies and in cooperation with the governments and regional authorities of qualified Latin American and Caribbean countries, shall support initiatives, including new initiatives and initiatives in existence as of the date of the enactment of this Act, as appropriate, to provide technical assistance and expertise on electrical grid and energy efficiency improvements in such countries in which qualified corporations relocate or expand business pursuant to section 3 for the following purposes:
Expanding and improving the reliability, flexibility, and resilience of the electrical grid to maintain business operations in a relocated area.
Developing microgrids or distributed energy resources in areas in which connection to the larger electrical grid is challenging.
Increasing the optimal integration of renewable energy into the electrical grid.
Enhancing the interconnectivity of electrical grids.
Boosting the energy storage capacity of the electrical grid.
Developing standards for clean energy technologies, smart buildings, and data centers.
Increasing deployment of smart meters and other energy efficiency technology.
Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, appliances, and the industrial sector.
Improving pollution controls.
Sec. 6 Temporary increased expensing for relocating manufacturing from the People’s Republic of China to a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country
In general— For purposes of section 168(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, in the case of any qualified relocated manufacturing property which is placed in service after the date of the enactment of this Act, and before January 1, 2030—
such property shall be treated as qualified property (within the meaning of such section),
the applicable percentage otherwise determined under section 168(k)(6) of such Code with respect to such property shall be 75 percent, and
paragraph (8) of such section shall not apply.
Qualified relocated manufacturing property— For purposes of this section—
In general— The term “qualified relocated manufacturing property” means qualified property (within the meaning of section 168(k) of such Code) or nonresidential real property (as defined in section 168(e)(2)(B) of such Code) which is—
placed in service in a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country by a qualified manufacturer, and
is acquired by such qualified manufacturer in connection with a qualified relocation of manufacturing.
Qualified relocation of manufacturing—
In general— The term “qualified relocation of manufacturing” means, with respect to any qualified manufacturer, the relocation of the manufacturing of any tangible personal property from the People’s Republic of China to a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country.
Relocation of property not required— For purposes of subparagraph (A), manufacturing shall not fail to be treated as relocated merely because property used in such manufacturing was not relocated.
Relocation of not less than equivalent productive capacity required— For purposes of subparagraph (A), manufacturing shall not be treated as relocated unless the property manufactured in a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country is substantially identical to the property previously manufactured in the People’s Republic of China and the increase in the units of production of such property in a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country by the qualified manufacturer is not less than the reduction in the units of production of such property by such qualified manufacturer in the People’s Republic of China.
Qualified manufacturer— The term “qualified manufacturer” means any person engaged in the trade or business of manufacturing any tangible personal property.
Sec. 7 Definitions
In this Act:
DFC— The term “DFC” means the United States International Development Finance Corporation.
Federal funds rate— The term “Federal funds rate” means the discount window primary credit interest rate most recently published on the Federal Reserve Statistical Release on selected interest rates (daily or weekly), commonly referred to as the H.15 release.
Foreign adversary— The term “foreign adversary” means a foreign government engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons.
Qualified corporation— The term “qualified corporation”—
means a corporation that is not incorporated in a country the government of which is a foreign adversary; and
does not include a state-owned enterprise.
Qualified Latin American or Caribbean country— The term “qualified Latin American or Caribbean country” means a Latin American or Caribbean country—
that is a party to a free trade agreement of preference program with the United States; and
the government of which is not a foreign adversary.
Qualified costs of expanding business— The term “qualified costs of expanding business” means—
the costs of increased operating expenditures, including capital investments, workforce development, and such other expenses, as determined or limited by the DFC; and
the costs of increased overhead, as determined or limited by the DFC.
Qualified moving costs— The term “qualified moving costs” means—
the costs of moving inventory, equipment, and supplies from the People’s Republic of China to a qualified Latin American or Caribbean country; and
the costs of workforce development and construction of facilities.