A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said the U.S. should immediately halt its political manipulation and smear attacks in response to the recent U.S. listing of two Chinese companies and their subsidiaries under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, according to an unofficial translation. The U.S. added Ninestar and Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical for working with the Xinjiang government to "recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs” and other persecuted groups (see 2306090011). The Commerce Ministry spokesperson said that there is no forced labor in Xinjiang and that China will take the necessary steps to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) Law Center addressed common concerns about Uyghur forced labor in a new evidence brief published May 31. Among the topics addressed, the paper focuses on topics such as the ethics of withdrawing from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), supply chain tracing, sourcing, auditing, certification, attestations and codes of conduct. The paper focuses on answering frequently answered questions about the topics to address the concerns.

A limited trade deal announced between the U.S. and Taiwan (see 2305190074) angered the Chinese government. When asked about the deal at a regular press conference in Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that signing a deal with Taiwan "implies sovereignty." He added: "The U.S. move gravely violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, and contravenes the U.S.’s own commitment of maintaining only unofficial relations with Taiwan. China deplores and strongly opposes this move."

The European Commission this week proposed to reform its customs system, including by creating a single interface called the EU Customs Data Hub that will allow for the submission of all customs information on imports. Under the plan, the EU also would create an EU Customs Authority, which it said would boost cooperation between customs surveillance and law enforcement authorities at the EU and member state level, and would eliminate the de minimis threshold for imports under $162.

The chair of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures urged all WTO members to submit missing subsidy notifications as soon as possible. Chair Sally Bardayan Rivera of Panama, during a May 2 meeting, said 88 members have yet to submit their 2021 notifications, which were due by the middle of 2021. Seventy-five members have not submitted their 2019 subsidy notifications, while 64 have yet to submit their 2017 notifications. "Eight delegations took the floor to urge members to step up their efforts and ensure both timely submission of notifications as well as complete notifications," WTO said.

Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng said that Canada and its partners in NAFTA 2.0 will not be caught unawares when it's time for the sunset review in 2026. She said that she and her counterparts in Mexico and the U.S. will be taking stock of how the agreement is working in July.

Some U.S. states were willing to pay Volkswagen more than Canada was for a new Volkswagen electric vehicle factory, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. But, Trudeau said, when Canada matched the national incentives offered by the Inflation Reduction Act, Ontario's other advantages were enough to land the major economic development win.

Mexico intervened in a union election at Goodyear in San Luis Potosi, a plant that has drawn attention from Democrats in Congress for years because there was a wildcat strike by workers, and 57 of them were fired (see 1906250025). The election was to see if workers wanted to retain a captive union that had not supported the wildcat strike. The Mexican government, which was observing the election, said it would order a redo of that election, because both observers from the Federal Labor Center and video evidence revealed that the incumbent union stole a ballot box.

Amazon is “committed to ensuring” its products “are produced in a way that respects human rights,” a company spokesperson said April 25 in response to a complaint submitted this week under Germany’s new supply chain law. “We engage with suppliers that are committed to these same principles and have clear requirements outlined for suppliers in our Supply Chain Standards,” the spokesperson emailed.

Two non-governmental organizations and a trade group filed the first complaint under Germany’s new supply chain law this week, saying Amazon, Ikea and Tom Tailor aren’t meeting certain human rights due diligence requirements. The complaint, filed by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, FEMNET and the National Garment Workers Federation, said Bangladeshi garment factories for the three companies “have not been adequately monitored, endangering workplace safety for employees.”