China-dependent supply chains developed because of the demands of retailers to sell products at low price points, a panelist explained at the Commerce Department's first supply chain summit, but the company is working to change that.
Sheep ranchers in the U.S. are complaining that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai hasn't asked the International Trade Commission to open a safeguard investigation for mutton and lamb imports, more than a year after they first asked for the action.
A survey of large American-headquartered multinationals -- 40% of which capture more than $1 billion in revenue from Chinese operations -- found as one of their top concerns the rising competitiveness of Chinese companies, whether from subsidization or business advances, or a combination of those factors.
Shein audits in 2023 uncovered two contract manufacturers that were hiring children 15 years old or younger in China, the company reported, and the companies let those workers go, paid their outstanding wages, and facilitated a return to their parents or legal guardians. "SHEIN also ensured the contract manufacturers strengthened their processes for screening new hires, such as checking and maintaining records of all employees’ IDs. Following appropriate remediation, the contract manufacturers were permitted to resume business," the report said.
Kharon has signed a contract with the DHS office that oversees the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List to provide it with access to Kharon’s ClearView risk analytics platform, Kharon said in a news release Aug. 21. Kharon said the deal will provide access to the platform for the DHS analysts who support the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force. Kharon signed a similar deal with CBP in 2023 (see 2310190049).
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which tried and failed to coordinate restraints on steel overproduction, reported that the World Trade Organization hasn't been able to discipline support for and from state-owned enterprises, and that free trade agreements are likely the best route to curtail their trade distorting effects.
Share Logistics, a company headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands, has acquired New Jersey-based customs broker Export-Import Services, the buyer announced in a June 13 news release.
Trade groups representing steel pipe and tube producers, along with Optimus Steel, Zekelman Industries, Atkore and the Coalition for a Prosperous America are asking the president to either reimpose tariffs on Mexican steel under Section 232, or impose quotas that reduce the import of products that are now imported in greater quantities than before 2017.
The Aluminum Association, in its weekly newsletter emailed May 24, said it had expected aluminum products that aren't subject to any Section 301 tariffs to be included in a new 25% tariff, but only 31 HTS codes will be covered (see 2405220072).
Manufacturing trade groups from the U.S. and Mexico told President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that government actions to respond to mass migration across the U.S. border "risk making critical supply chains between the United States and Mexico less resilient and dependable."