The high-profile House Select Committee on China is recommending that the de minimis threshold of $800 be reduced "with particular focus on foreign adversaries including the PRC."
Eighteen months after a senator launched a discussion draft on customs modernization (see 2111030035), the House Ways and Means Committee is beginning its examination of how to shape a bill to update CBP's authorities.
CBP's Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will next meet June 14 in Arlington, Virginia, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 9.
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.
Importers doing due diligence on their Chinese suppliers to make sure they don’t run afoul of forced labor prohibitions need to stick with the “nuts and bolts” of supply chain information, rather than explaining why it’s needed or asking for certifications that the suppliers comply with U.S. law, both of which could be illegal under Chinese law, Virginia Newman of Miller & Chevalier said during a recent webinar.
CBP in April identified 377 shipments valued at more than $159 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor, including goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and withhold release orders, the agency said in its most recent operational update. That's close to March's total of 400 shipments valued at more than $122.7 million (see 2304180032). CBP also seized 1,864 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $2.7 billion, and completed 33 audits that identified $136 million in duties and fees owed to the U.S. government for goods that had been improperly declared, the agency said.
Former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who got the most attention from members of a House select committee at a lengthy hearing on Chinese economic aggression, argued that the actions President Donald Trump took to discourage imports from China were not nearly enough, and that even removing China from most favored nation status would not be enough to protect American manufacturers from China's predation, because some of the Column 2 tariffs, such as those on cars, are not high enough. Ending China's MFN status "would be one of the greatest things you could possibly do for American manufacturing," he declared.
CBP released two guidance documents May 16 on the information that should be included in allegations of forced labor in U.S.-bound supply chains filed through CBP’s e-allegations system, as well as how to compile supporting documentation for both allegations and requests to modify Withhold Release Orders and forced labor findings. The latter guidance document has instructions on how to organize supporting documents, preserve open-source documents, preserve time and date information and submit documents in languages other than English, among other things.
CBP’s approach to enforcing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act has been “especially damaging” to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) forced to confront “nearly impossible” supply chain documentation requirements and that lack the ability to easily restructure their supply chains, a customs lawyer said in a recent post on the China Law Blog.
Ahead of a Senate Finance Committee International Trade Subcommittee hearing on how to encourage more integration of the U.S. and the Central and South American economies, 38 House members, from both parties, wrote Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, asking that she not make it easier for apparel manufacturers to win exceptions to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement's yarn-forward rules of origin.