Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2026
Officially: “Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2026” Read the full text
What it does
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1Short title
This section says the Act may be called the Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2026.
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Defending American Property Abroad Act of 2026 .
2Condition for entry into ports in the United States
This section would change the federal law at 46 U.S.C. 70022, which controls which ships may enter United States navigable waters, operate there, or load or unload cargo at a United States port or place under U.S. jurisdiction. It would add a new category of ship covered by that law: a ship that has called at a port, harbor, or marine terminal in a Western Hemisphere country that has a free trade agreement with the United States, if the only way to reach that port was through land owned, held, or controlled by a United States person, and if the President has designated that port under this new provision and has not removed the designation. The President could designate a port this way if an agency or official of that country's government nationalized or expropriated the port, harbor, or marine terminal that is owned, held, or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a United States person, or, short of outright nationalization, took any other action with the effect of expropriating the port or the land that provides its only access, as long as that second kind of action is not currently the subject of arbitration under the free trade agreement. The President would have to remove a port's designation if the nationalization or expropriation conditions no longer exist, if the country has returned the property and ended the measures that seized it, if the country has paid adequate and effective compensation for the property in convertible foreign currency or other mutually acceptable payment equal to its full value as international law requires, or if the President decides the dispute has otherwise been resolved to his or her satisfaction. The bill would also add a new exception, letting a ship that would otherwise be covered by this restriction still enter or operate in United States waters if the ship or a person on board is experiencing an emergency, or if the United States person who owns or controls the access land has specifically authorized that ship to transit the designated port, harbor, or terminal. The rest of the changes are technical: they renumber the law's two existing categories of covered ships into a new list structure and update cross-references to match, without changing what those two existing categories cover.
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2. Condition for entry into ports in the United States Section 70022 of title 46, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (a)(2)(A)— (A) in clause (i)— (i) by striking subsection (b)(1) and inserting subsection (b)(1)(A) ; and (ii) in subclause (II) by striking ; or and inserting a semicolon; (B) in clause (ii)— (i) by striking subsection (b)(2) and inserting subsection (b)(1)(B) ; and (ii) by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or ; and (C) by adding at the end the following: (iii) vessel described in subsection (b)(1) in the case of— (I) an emergency being experienced by a vessel or an individual on the vessel; or (II) a vessel authorized by the owner, as described in subsection (b)(1)(C)(ii), to transit the facilities described in subsection (b)(1)(C). ; and (2) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1) by inserting the before Federal Register ; (B) in paragraph (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or ; (C) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B); (D) by striking A vessel referred and inserting the following: (1) In general A vessel referred ; and (E) by adding at the end the following: (C) a vessel that has transited a port, harbor, or marine terminal, that at the time of such transit— (i) was located within the territory of a Western Hemisphere country that has in effect a free trade agreement with the United States; (ii) was accessible only through land that is owned, held, or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a United States person; and (iii) was designated by the President under paragraph (2), and has not had such designation removed under paragraph (3). (2) Designation The President may designate a port, harbor, or marine terminal under this subsection if an agency or official of the government of the Western Hemisphere foreign trade partner has— (A) nationalized, or expropriated the port, harbor, or marine terminal, owned, held, or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a United States person; or (B) taken any other action that has the effect of expropriating or nationalizing that port, harbor, or marine terminal, or land providing the exclusive access to that port, harbor, or marine terminal, as described in paragraph (1)(C)(ii), as long as the matter is not the subject of a currently pending arbitration under a free trade agreement described in paragraph (1)(C)(i). (3) Removal of designation The President shall remove the designation of a port, harbor, or marine terminal made under paragraph (2) if the President determines that— (A) the conditions set forth in paragraph (2) are no longer met; (B) the Western Hemisphere country has returned the property of the United States person and terminated any measures that had the effect of seizing ownership of that property; (C) the Western Hemisphere country has provided adequate and effective compensation for such property in convertible foreign exchange or other mutually acceptable compensation equivalent to the full value thereof, as required by international law; or (D) the dispute has otherwise been resolved to the satisfaction of the President. .
Where it is
In the House.