Global Trade & Economy

The administration has begun to roll out regulations representing the largest overhaul of federal export controls in U.S. history.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew faced a skeptical Congress on Wednesday as he defended President Obama's request for $2.9 billion to fund international affairs programs next year.

Lew testified that aid to multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are a “cost-effective” way to solidify the world financial system, promote U.S. national security and boost U.S. exports. Lawmakers however raised doubts after the IMF bailed out five European countries – Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus – over the past few years.

“Mr. Secretary, the IMF is controversial within the Congress,” House foreign operations appropriations chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas) said in prepared remarks. “It was not created to bail out industrialized nations that cannot control their spending. 

The U.S.-China Business Council said China should not be singled out as Congress tries to prevent cyber spying.  

Foreign investment in U.S. shale oil-and-gas plays is on the rise, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Of the $133.7 billion spent on U.S. shale ventures between 2008 and 2012, joint ventures with international partners accounted for about $26 billion — roughly 20 percent.

EIA said the activity, “highlights a renewed trend toward foreign joint ventures” as the recent domestic energy boom — propelled by advancements in drilling technology — has drawn interest from abroad.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday promoted ending fossil fuel subsidies and taxing carbon emissions to discourage excessive energy consumption and combat climate change.

“The link between subsidies, consumption of energy and climate change has added a new dimension to the debate on energy subsides,” David Lipton, IMF first deputy managing director, said in prepared remarks at a Washington event hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

President Obama's political goals include stripping back those subsidies.

Four House lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation that would impose new conditions on the regulators who are implementing the Dodd-Frank reform law.

The bill, the Swap Jurisdictional Certainty Act, would require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to issue identical rules pertaining to derivatives regulations that could apply to overseas activity.

The legislation would also require any such rules to go through the formal rule-making process, including a proposal and public comment period, and exempt G-20 nations with "broadly equivalent" regulatory arrangements for swaps from new U.S. regulations.

The bill has bipartisan backing, with two Republicans and two Democratic co-sponsors: Reps. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), Mike Conaway (R-Texas), John Carney (D-Del.) and David Scott (D-Ga.). All four are members of the House Financial Services Committee, and Garrett chairs the subcommittee overseeing capital markets.

Hiring and retaining skilled foreign and domestic workers is one of the top economic challenges facing the country, they say.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said Thursday that he intends to hold a hearing on the State Department’s review of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

“I am sure that at some point we will,” Menendez told The Hill in the Capitol.

“We want to review their process, especially as they go into the next phase,” he said of the State Department’s review of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed pipeline.

Republicans and industry groups were quick to trumpet another step forward for the long-delayed project

By not filling low-priority positions, senator says government could save some employees from furloughs.