The Canada Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) terminated its review of human rights complaints against Canadian Tire and Mark’s Work Wearhouse, the agency announced on Dec. 23. The agency found that determining a "right to a living wage" was beyond its jurisdictional boundary and therefore "closed the complaint without any recommendation for follow-up by the company."
Forced Labor
CBP is the primary U.S. agency tasked with combating forced labor in international trade. It is the only agency with legal authority to take enforcement action and prevent entry into domestic commerce of goods produced with forced labor. CBP combats forced labor by issuing Withhold Release Orders (WROs) and Findings, and enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), and Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Goods subject to WROs and Findings, UFLPA, and CAATSA status cannot be entered at any ports of the U.S.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative opened an investigation into Chinese manufacturing of legacy (or foundational) semiconductors, "including to the extent that they are incorporated as components into downstream products for critical industries like defense, automotive, medical devices, aerospace, telecommunications, and power generation and the electrical grid."
CBP has released its Dec. 18 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No 50). It contains no ruling actions but includes a notice of finding that aluminum extrusions and profile products and derivatives produced or manufactured by Kingtom Aluminio with the use of convict, forced or indentured labor are being, or are likely to be, imported into the U.S. (see 2412030006). Two Court of International Trade slip opinions also are included.
CBP processed more than 2.8 million entry summaries valued at more than $283 billion in November, with duties estimated at nearly $6.97 billion, the agency said Dec. 19 in a monthly update.
The Canadian government intends to create a new framework for eradicating forced labor from supply chains, its minister of export promotion, international trade and economic development, Mary Ng, said in a Dec. 18 response statement. The proposed legislation would require government entities and businesses "to scrutinize their international supply chains for risks to fundamental labour rights and take action to resolve these risks," and, "a new oversight agency will be created to ensure ongoing compliance."
Venable lawyers said no one knows whether President-elect Donald Trump will hike tariffs on China by 10 percentage points, by 60 percentage points, or bring current tariff levels to 60%. Nor does anyone know if the threat of 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican exports will become reality.
The Congressional Research Service, in an updated report last week on the ban on goods made with forced labor in the Trade Act of 1930, highlighted how the U.S. has used negotiations in free trade agreements to try to expand the bans on goods made with forced labor.
Congress will pass a spending bill before leaving next week, and while everyone wants to attach their legislation to it, the prospect for Haitian trade preferences to get a ride seems relatively strong.
CBP posted the following documents for the Dec. 11 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
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