No date has been scheduled yet for a vote on the China package championed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., but lengthy amendments from senators are continuing to flow in, many with trade implications.
The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach is "supporting" 17 withhold release orders and "we currently have well over 100 shipments on hold pending determination of admissibility" due to suspicion of forced labor, CBP Port Director for the LA/LB Seaport Donald Kusser said while speaking during a Foreign Trade Association World Trade Week event May 20. Such shipments can remain in CBP custody for "months during the investigatory process," he said.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 20. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:
CBP allowed for the release of some styles of men's shirts imported by Uniqlo that were detained over the suspected use of cotton from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in China because the shirts were not made of cotton, the agency said in a May 18 ruling. The ruling, HQ H318835, discloses that CBP detained a second Uniqlo shipment over a possible XPCC connection. The first detention was mentioned in another recent ruling, in which CBP said Uniqlo hadn't sufficiently shown XPCC cotton wasn't used (see 2105130031). The ruling wasn't available on the CBP rulings database as of press time May 20.
A former U.S. trade representative and a former deputy national security adviser agree that companies that do business in China are stuck between a rock and a hard place, as they will anger China if they disavow abuses in Xinjiang or Hong Kong, but could break U.S. law if they make clothes with Xinjiang cotton.
China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian denied any forced labor exists in the Xinjiang province when asked about a Uniqlo shipment stopped by CBP over the possible use cotton from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (see 2105130031). "There is no 'forced labor' in Xinjiang, only voluntary employment and free choice in the labor market," he said during a May 19 press conference, according to a transcript the ministry provided. "Certain Western politicians and anti-China forces spread lies to suppress certain companies and industries in China under the pretext of human rights, as part of their sinister conspiracy of containing China's development by disrupting Xinjiang," he said, according to an unofficial translation.
In a joint statement, Canada's trade minister, Mexico's economy minister and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they reviewed USMCA committee work, noting progress and offering “recommendations for future work to maintain progress.”
Endless Frontier Act Requires More Reporting to Congress on Forced Labor, Counterfeits, Phase 1 Deal
The Endless Frontier Act, a massive bill working its way through the Senate that aims to improve the United States' ability to compete economically with China, also addresses a number of issues relevant to importers, including enforcement of the forced labor statute, seizure of counterfeits, and progress on the issues that led to the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods.
The day before the first USMCA Free Trade Commission meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Canada's trade minister, Mary Ng, talked about how to strengthen North American supply chains, combat forced labor and climate change, and reform the World Trade Organization.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from May 10-14 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.