The leaders of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China asked the CEO of Costco to give them "a detailed response to reports about Costco’s sale of seafood from Chinese companies that use forced labor to catch and process seafood for the U.S. market." In a letter made public on Nov. 1, CECC Chair Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Co-chair Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. noted that the committee recently held a hearing about forced labor in fish processing facilities in China. They asked Costco to describe what audits and risk assessments it has done to ensure that fish processed in China was not done with forced labor.
Thirteen senators -- seven Democrats and six Republicans -- urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to schedule a vote within a few months so that the African Growth and Opportunity Act trade benefits program is renewed early. AGOA’s authorization expires in September 2025.
The Senate Finance Committee's top Republican, along with seven of his colleagues, accused Office of the U.S. Trade Representative officials of misleading congressional staff on what they would be negotiating on digital trade at the World Trade Organization. "As recently as this weekend, USTR officials told congressional staff that they had not abandoned support for negotiating the free data flow commitments at issue," Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and his colleagues wrote Oct. 26.
A bipartisan group of nine senators sent a letter to the commerce and energy secretaries and the U.S. trade representative opposing a potential critical minerals deal between the U.S. and Indonesia.
When the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization said the U.S. was no longer arguing that data localization is a violation of trade rules, and is no longer pushing for open data flows, blowback in the U.S. was immediate, and not just from industry interests who want the right to protect source codes and want the ability to transfer data across borders freely.
The House Select Committee on China's leaders said a recent announcement that China would restrict exports of graphite, which is used in electric vehicle batteries, shows how urgent it is to pass legislation to respond to China's actions.
The White House's funding request to Congress to send military aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, and humanitarian aid to Gaza, also includes provisions for spending more at the U.S.-Mexico border. It proposes $849 million to procure and deploy "additional non-intrusive inspection systems on the Southwest border to detect and counter illicit drug activity and human trafficking."
Members of Congress, since they have raised concerns about how administration actions to strike critical minerals deals overrode their trade authority and undermined the intent of the Inflation Reduction Act, may want to consider either passing trade promotion authority that addresses the issue, or passing more laws like the one regarding the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service suggested.
Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., one of the less hawkish members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, bemoaned the fact that the original title of the committee, which talked about strategic competition, has been forgotten.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., led a bipartisan letter signed by a dozen other House members asking National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator Richard Spinrad to "strongly consider enforcing trade restrictions against the PRC on specific seafood products tainted by forced labor," such as tuna and squid. China's government has the right to 90 days of consultations on the issue before the administration imposes trade restrictions.