HR 1550: To provide for the withdrawal of most favored nation status from Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and to provide for the restoration of such status with respect to Syria if the President determines that Syria is participating in the Middle East peace process in good faith.

Congress: 105 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: pro-Israel

Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).

Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for HR 1550.

Sponsor: Scarborough, Joe (R-FL)

Summary

Withdraws nondiscriminatory (most-favored-nation) treatment from the products of Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Authorizes the President to restore nondiscriminatory treatment of the products of Syria upon certification to the Congress that Syria is participating in the Middle East peace process in good faith.

Editorial Explainer

The bill revokes most-favored-nation trade status (normal favorable tariffs) for Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The President can restore Syria's trade status only after certifying to Congress that Syria is genuinely participating in Middle East peace negotiations.

Why it matters

This uses trade sanctions against four regional states—three hostile to Israel and one bordering it—and conditions Syria's economic relief on entering peace talks, aligning trade leverage with US-Israel policy objectives in the region.

Cosponsors (13)