Skip to main content
S. 206 119th Congress Senate

Restoring Trade Fairness Act

Official title: A bill to suspend normal trade relations with the People's Republic of China and to increase the rates of duty applicable with respect to articles imported fro… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: A bill to suspend normal trade relations with the People's Republic of China and to increase the rates of duty applicable with respect to articles imported from the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes.

Introduced: January 23, 2025 Introduced by: Tom Cotton Republican · Arkansas See on congress.gov
Foreign Trade and International Finance Administrative law and regulatory proceduresAgricultural tradeAsiaBudget deficits and national debt
More subjectsShow fewer subjects
ChinaCongressional oversightCustoms enforcementDepartment of DefenseExecutive agency funding and structureGovernment information and archivesGovernment trust fundsInflation and pricesNormal trade relations, most-favored-nation treatmentPresidents and presidential powers, Vice PresidentsTariffsTrade restrictionsU.S. International Trade Commission
Sign in to write a letter Sign in to watch
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jan 23, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Jan 23, 2025
Introduced in Senate
 Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

What's happening now January 23, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Restoring Trade Fairness Act

This bill establishes various trade measures related to China, including by revoking China's permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status and increasing the rates of duty (i.e., tariffs) on Chinese imported goods. The bill prohibits imported goods originating from North Korea, China, Russia, or Iran from receiving de minimis treatment. (Current law allows for U.S. imports under a de minimis threshold of $800 per shipment to enter free of tariffs, fees, and taxes.)

Specifically, the bill revokes China's PNTR status. Currently, China's PNTR status allows for Chinese goods to have duty rates set forth in column 1 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS). With the removal of China's PNTR status, the bill generally sets the applicable duty rates on imported Chinese goods at the higher rates listed in column 2 of the HTS, with exceptions.

The bill establishes a minimum duty rate of 35% for all Chinese goods, which requires column 2 rates to be at least 35%. However, the bill establishes a minimum duty rate of 100% for a list of specified goods (e.g., various minerals, certain vaccines and drugs, and certain defense-related articles). Duty rates are phased in over five years and adjusted annually for inflation.

The bill also

  • authorizes the President to take additional actions related to trade with China, 
  • requires merchandise imported from China to be appraised based on U.S. value, and 
  • establishes a trust fund to compensate U.S. producers for lost revenue resulting from retaliatory actions by China.
 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 694 Identical bill Restoring Trade Fairness Act
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 20

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 20 filings →
 Cosponsors 3
All 3 Republican 3
R
Ricketts, Pete
Nebraska · Mar 11, 2025
 R
Banks, Jim
Indiana · Jan 23, 2025
 R
Hawley, Josh
Missouri · Jan 23, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 206: Restoring Trade Fairness Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-206/
MLA
"S. 206: Restoring Trade Fairness Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-206/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 206, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-206/.
Markdown link
[S. 206: Restoring Trade Fairness Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-206/)
Report a problem