United States-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act

United States-Israel Trade and Commercial Enhancement Act

This bill states that among the principal U.S. trade negotiating objectives for trade agreements with foreign countries regarding commercial partnerships are to:

• discourage actions by potential trading partners that discourage commercial activity solely between the United States and Israel;
• discourage politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel and to seek the elimination of politically motivated non-tariff barriers on Israeli commerce; and
• seek the elimination of state-sponsored unsanctioned foreign boycotts against Israel or compliance with the Arab League Boycott of Israel.

The President is directed to report annually to Congress on politically motivated acts of boycott, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel.

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is amended to require a foreign issuer traded on the U.S. stock market to disclose in its quarterly or annual report:

• whether the issuer has discriminated against doing business with Israel in the last calendar year;
• whether the issuer has been advised by a foreign government or a non-member state of the United Nations (U.N.) to discriminate against doing business with Israel, entities owned or controlled by Israel, or entities operating in Israel or Israeli-controlled territory; and
• any instances where the issuer has learned that a person, foreign government, or a non-member state of the U.N. is boycotting the issuer, divesting itself of an ownership interest in the issuer, or placing sanctions on the issuer because of the issuer's relationship with Israel.

No U.S. court may recognize or enforce any judgment by a foreign court against a U.S. person carrying out business operations in Israel or in any territory controlled by Israel, and on which is based a determination by the foreign court that the location in Israel, or in any territory controlled by Israel, of the facilities at which the business operations are carried out is sufficient to constitute a violation of law.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov