Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., recently suggested that executive action for a carbon border adjustment tax might be more achievable than passing a bill through Congress. Whitehouse, who has sponsored a CBA, was invited to speak at a virtual forum hosted by Bruegel, a European think tank that analyzes the economics of policy questions.
The Department of Labor's annual report on forced labor and child labor describes a global problem, from garments in Bangladesh, Brazil, Vietnam and Malaysia to tea and thread in India to gold from Venezuela, in addition to the sectors already associated with withhold release orders.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America announced that it had asked CBP to investigate Chinese distribution company Shein for violating the prohibition on the import of goods made with forced labor.
Between increased enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and a proposed EU bill banning the sale of goods made with forced labor, Wiley lawyers predict supply chains will shift away from China and other forced labor hot spots.
A senior adviser to the U.S. trade representative said that Section 301 tariffs are no longer in place to try to change Chinese economic behavior but suggested they can't be modified unless trade policymakers understand how removing them would influence the administration's desire "to move to a resilience economy away from an efficient economy."
African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits for Kenya need to continue as any trade partnership is formed, commenters said, especially the third-country fabric rule of origin.
Reducing wait times for cargo at the U.S.-Mexico border by 10 minutes would allow an additional $312 million in imports annually and increase production in Mexico in export sectors by 2%, a new report from the Atlantic Council projects.
Made in China 2025, China's public document of its ambitions for technology dominance, came out of Chinese officials' anxiety about their tech vulnerability due to integration of U.S. and Chinese supply chains, panelists said during a Peterson Institute for International Economics webcast Sept. 23 featuring PIIE scholars and an expert on China's foreign economic policy from the University of Maryland, Margaret Pearson.
The Housing Affordability Coalition, a new group inspired by the invitation to submit information to the government about the economic impact of Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, is arguing that higher tariffs on such items as vinyl flooring, cabinets, light fixtures, windows and the like is contributing to higher costs for new houses.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., threw cold water on a proposal to refund tariffs that should have been waived through the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, as importers continue to wait for the program's reauthorization. All tariffs will start the refund process once the bill becomes law, but Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., says the best chance of that is in December (see 2209200068).