International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Personal protective equipment manufacturer defendants, led by Smart Glove Holdings, failed to disclose they were under investigation by CBP for using forced labor, leading to over $68.5 million in damages to protective equipment supplier Airboss Defense Group (ADG), ADG said in a Sept. 19 complaint. Filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, ADG claimed that had it known about this investigation, it would not have agreed to source its gloves from Smart Glove and would have avoided the millions in charges, logistics costs and storage fees it incurred due to the imports being detained under a withhold release order (Airboss Defense Group v. Smart Glove Holdings, C.D. Calif. #2:22-06727).
CBP “targeted” 838 entries valued at over $266.5 million in August for suspected use of forced labor in the production of imported goods, the agency said in its monthly operational update, released Sept. 19. The agency did not specify what proportion of that were goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act as opposed to withhold release orders. Statistics on forced labor imports were not included in CBP’s July update.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., said a recent Labor Department report about Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) labor compliance in the Dominican Republican's sugar industry confirmed their conclusions when they visited sugar cane farms in July, that the workers live in substandard conditions and that there is a "culture of fear" in the industry.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the driving force in the Senate behind the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), is aware that Xinjiang goods -- even those labeled as coming from the state-owned Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which is on the banned entity list -- are entering U.S. commerce.
CBP modified its withhold release order on Natchi Apparel garments, it said, As a result, the company's imports will be allowed to enter the U.S. "This modification takes place a month after CBP issued the WRO on July 29, 2022, representing swift and successful collaboration between civil society and worker rights organizations, Natchi Apparel (P) Ltd. and its parent company Eastman Exports, and CBP," the agency said. "This collaboration plays a critical role in ensuring that imports entering the United States are free of forced labor and meet the humane and ethical standards required by U.S. customs and trade laws. It improves American economic security while upholding human rights for workers." Shipments that have previously been detained will also be released, CBP said.
Twenty-seven House Republicans, led by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, asked CBP to defend its implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in light of a recent report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (see 2209060033). They asked if any red jujube dates from Xinjiang have entered the U.S. since June 21, and if so, how many shipments have done so.
The Uyghur Human Rights Project, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, is asking shoppers at Asian and international supermarkets to watch out for red dates coming from Xinjiang, and to report the presence of those goods to CBP, as they violate the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
CBP posted several documents ahead of the Sept. 14 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai had a first video call with Japan's new trade minister, Nishimura Yasutoshi, ahead of an in-person meeting next week. "Ambassador Tai and Minister Nishimura reaffirmed ongoing collaboration to address non-market policies and practices, including economic coercion, and shared commitment to respect internationally-recognized worker rights, including eradicating forced labor," USTR's readout said. This followed a lower-level series of meetings, called the U.S.-Japan Partnership on Trade, where the U.S. said they discussed regulatory transparency, standards issues that are barriers to U.S. exports of products and services, and the U.S.'s desire that Japan buy more ethanol.