DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told an audience of domestic textile producers that de minimis is based on a "false premise" that low value means low risk, and said that is not the case.
DHS announced that more companies in what it called "the high-priority textile sector" should be added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's Entity List, joining the 10 already on that list -- just one item in what it's calling "a new comprehensive enforcement action plan" for textiles.
Lawyers at Miller & Chevalier noted that the first two months of 2024 saw 30% more shipments stopped for suspicion of links to Uyghur forced labor than in the same period a year ago -- and that the value of those detentions tripled.
Experts invited by Georgetown Law's Center on Inclusive Trade and Development to talk about U.S.-China relations said a truce in the Trump trade war that has continued under President Joe Biden is unlikely, and that the trade war may intensify, no matter who the next president is.
The Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Enterprise concluded that Dynasty Gold, a mining firm headquartered in British Columbia, allowed Uyghur labor transfers to its joint venture in Xinjiang during 2017-2020, and that such forced labor "may continue to persist" at the Hatu mine in Xinjiang.
The U.S. is asking Mexico to address its allegation that the Servicios Industriales González facility in Nuevo Leon fired some workers for union activity; threatened the independent union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Ramo de Transporte en General, La Construcción y sus Servicios (SNTTYC); and allowed Federacion Nacional de Sindicatos Independientes (FNSI) access to the workplace. Despite its name, FNSI is not an independent union, but rather is part of the labor union structure dating back to the early 20th century, which the U.S. says was in league with employers, not members, and led to wage suppression.
PHILADELPHIA -- CBP has not issued any withhold release orders for goods unrelated to Uyghur forced labor since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed in late 2021. Eric Choy, the CBP official whose office oversees the ban on goods made with forced labor, said that targeting forced labor abuses outside of China "is something that we're definitely reprioritizing resources [for], to focus in on those efforts." Choy, who is executive director of Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, said in an interview during the CBP Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit last week that he expects there will be a WRO announced before October.
PHILADELPHIA -- While the intersection of trade and climate change isn't yet massive in terms of policy, a CBP green trade official noted that climate change is already affecting the transport of goods.
PHILADELPHIA -- The glacial pace of developing electronically submitted export manifests is finally picking up, participants on a CBP export modernization panel said, with Tom Pagano, outbound enforcement policy branch chief, saying "we're really close."
PHILADELPHIA -- CBP officials who clear or reject packages from importers seeking to show there is no Uyghur labor anywhere in the supply chain of a detained product said it's not enough to assemble a paper trail of every transaction and vendor from raw material to finished good.