Steptoe & Johnson trade lawyers say that although President-elect Joe Biden will be interested in repairing strained relationships with the European Union, and will be less inclined to use unconventional trade tools like Section 232 and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the trend of policymakers pushing reshoring and decoupling won't abate.
A withhold release order aimed at goods from China's Xinjiang region wouldn't go far enough in the fight against forced labor, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a Nov. 9 letter to Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. CBP should instead hit all of China with a WRO, the CPA said. CBP is considering a regional WRO (see 2009140040), which was in itself already seen by some industries as major and potentially onerous action. A “country wide-WRO is the only approach to stopping forced labor,” the trade group said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Oct. 26-30 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Senate Finance Committee Democrats, including the ranking member, are urging U.S. Chamber of Commerce members “to take immediate action to ensure goods manufactured for them are not complicit in the China’s state-directed human rights abuses, including by relocating production” from Xinjiang province. In an Oct. 27 letter, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said multinational companies need to be part of the solution in eradicating forced labor in China. “We will continue to push Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to investigate and issue region-wide Withhold Release Orders (WROs) for all products known to be produced in the [Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China] and to implement a comprehensive response to the Chinese government’s violation of human rights,” they said.
CBP is working on a response to the proposal that goods under withhold release orders could be held in foreign-trade zones before the final determination on its status, attendees at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones virtual conference learned Oct. 27. But Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, said “there are issues with that” idea, or else it probably would have been done already.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Oct. 19-23 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP’s forced labor operations are being undermined by staff shortages that have resulted in investigations being suspended or not conducted at all, as well as a failure by CBP to conduct reviews of withhold release orders unless prodded by importers, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Oct. 27.
CBP issued a forced labor finding on imports of stevia from China, it said in a notice released Oct. 19. It's the first time a finding has been issued since 1996, according to a list of CBP actions. The forced labor finding applies to “stevia extracts and derivatives, mined, produced, or manufactured” in China by the Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agriculture, Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., CBP said. The finding follows a withhold release order issued in 2016 on Baoanzhao (see 1605310019) that resulted in the first CBP penalty for forced labor (see 2008140016). CBP has ratcheted up its use of authorities this year under provisions to stop goods made with forced labor (see 2009140040).
CBP personnel at the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport stopped a shipment of 32 cartons of women's leather gloves from China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region “suspected to have been manufactured using forced labor,” the agency said in an Oct. 15 news release. The gloves were subject to the Withhold Release Order on apparel made by Yili Zhuowan Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Baoding LYSZD Trade and Business Co., Ltd (see 2009140040).
FGV Holdings Berhad is planning to hire a third-party auditor as part of an effort to convince CBP that forced labor isn't used in its palm oil supply chain, the company said in an Oct. 15 news release. Palm oil and palm oil products from the Malaysian company are subject to a withhold release order issued last month (see 2009300012). “FGV has communicated with the CBP via conference call to seek clarification on its investigation findings and on steps expected to be taken by FGV for the revocation of the WRO,” it said. “Information around the CBP’s investigation findings is imperative to enable FGV to address and resolve any remaining gaps in its practices.” CBP told FGV “that it would consider a petition for the revocation of the WRO together with information or reports arising from audits from credible, unbiased, third-party auditing firms,” the company said. “In relation to this, FGV is already in communication with several independent organisations to explore options for an imminent audit of FGV’s operations. FGV expects to finalise the appointment of such an audit firm in the next couple of weeks and to proceed with the audits shortly after.”