A proposed bill to create a rebuttable presumption of forced labor for goods made in China's Xinjiang province never came up in a discussion on how to move forward in combating forced labor hosted by the McCain Institute. The April 30 webinar called "Eliminating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor in Global Supply Chains: whose responsibility is it?" instead talked about how consumer pressure could convince companies to do more due diligence beyond first tier suppliers.
Two Democrats and two Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, along with 98 colleagues, are asking the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to re-establish an application process for exclusions to Section 301 tariffs. In an April 27 letter, led by Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis., Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., they also say they believe companies that had exclusions that have expired should have expedited procedures for getting a new exclusion.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has been cautioning its clients not to get their hopes up about a reversal of sections 232 and 301 tariffs with the new administration, and Scott McCandless, a principal in the firm's tax policy services group, also sought to manage expectations for trade policy action in Congress in 2021. McCandless, speaking to a webinar audience April 27, said that while forced labor is a hot issue right now, and CBP “is on a more active footing” on forced labor, he doesn't believe that legislation that would create a rebuttable presumption of forced labor in Xinjiang is going to pass this year. “I doubt that moves forward,” he said.
The U.S. should lead the charge to reopen the Environmental Goods Agreement in Geneva, House Ways and Means Republicans wrote April 22, on Earth Day. This follows a resolution introduced earlier in the month by four pro-trade Democrats calling for the same thing (see 2104080050).
Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Don Young, R-Alaska, reintroduced a bill April 22 that would give Mongolian cashmere duty-free status. The same bill was introduced in 2019 (see 1904110041) and in 2018. Young and Titus co-lead the Congressional Mongolia Caucus.
The Safe Cribs Act, which would ban the sale of crib bumpers, was reintroduced in the Senate April 20 by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. A version of the bill introduced in the House in 2019 passed out of committee during the previous Congress. That these deadly products can still be found on shelves across the country is extremely confusing to new parents who don’t believe stores would be selling them if they were truly dangerous to babies,” Duckworth said. “We should be doing everything we can to help new parents and end preventable deaths like these, which is why I’m proud to be introducing this bipartisan bill with Senators Portman and Blumenthal that would ban the sale of deadly padded crib bumpers.” The Consumer Product Safety Commission a year ago proposed a rule updating its standard to ban padded bumpers but allow mesh bumpers (see 2004020039). That proposed rule has not yet become final, and according to the most recent stakeholder meeting notes posted by CPSC, it may be difficult to find test labs that can certify the air flow standard described in the proposed rule.
Thirty Republicans, led by Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, and seven Democrats, led by Sen. Tom Carper of Del., asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to renew expired Section 301 exclusions. “Some inputs for American manufacturers and small businesses remain unavailable outside of China,” the letter, sent April 21, said. The senators, joined by independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, said expiring exclusions should also be renewed, to give companies time to modify their supply chains. They also said they hoped the office different would reopen applications for exclusions. “Such a process should emphasize transparency, speed, consistency, and fairness, and should acknowledge both the practical realities of global value chains and the broader aim of supply chain diversification,” they wrote.
A bill that aims “to protect American businesses and government institutions from attacks designed to steal sensitive information” was introduced April 21 by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., his office announced. The Combating Chinese Purloining (CCP) of Trade Secrets Act would expand penalties for companies, business associations or individuals who misappropriate trade secrets, the press release said. The penalties mentioned include “import restrictions,” denial of export licenses, visa denials and a prohibition on applications for patent protection. The text of the bill is not yet available.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that Senate Finance Committee members have been seeking a path to renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, but have not been able to yet. “There was some talk a week ago about some sort of a deal that might include some extension of that, but there was nothing conclusive on it,” he said. He didn't specify whether he was speaking about MTB, GSP or both, and a trade staffer for the committee and one of his communication staffers did not respond to follow-up questions April 20.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced a bill April 15 that would allow CBP to share information about merchandise that's suspected of violating intellectual property rights with interested stakeholders, including the trademark holders. Restrictions on information sharing have been a hurdle to stopping counterfeits for years, both stakeholders (see 1908200046) and CBP itself (see 1803060021) have said.