The White House is freezing rules that have been published, but have not taken effect, as well as proposed rulemaking and interim final rules, for 60 days from Jan. 20, so that the new administration can review the policies. The Trump administration issued a similar order in 2017 (see 1701230031), as did previous administrations.
Ramped up import enforcement efforts are likely here to stay under President Joe Biden, Sidley Austin's Ted Murphy said in an email. The multi-agency effort to crack down on import violations is expected to continue unencumbered and Murphy views these efforts as not administration-specific, particularly dealing with questions of forced labor, Section 301 tariff evasion and USMCA compliance.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Jan. 11-15 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
In a strategic action plan to “confront the full spectrum of Chinese threats” to the homeland, the Department of Homeland Security said it will work with intelligence agencies and the National Security Council to assess to what extent goods produced by forced labor are imported. After that assessment, the report said, the government will discuss what it found with private industry. CBP recently put a withhold release order on all cotton grown in China's Xinjiang region (see 2101130034). The leading trade group for the apparel industry has said there is no cost-effective way to know where cotton in an item of clothing is from when the brand does not control the factory's purchases (see 2009170029). American Apparel and Footwear Association CEO Steve Lamar said Xinjiang cotton could be sent to factories in Bangladesh, Kenya, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Vietnam or Indonesia.
CBP’s new regional withhold release order on cotton and tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region presents new enforcement challenges for the agency, which is working on technological capabilities to be able to track origin for third-country goods made from imports covered by the WRO, CBP officials said on a call with reporters Jan. 13.
CBP is issuing a new regional withhold release order on all cotton and tomato products grown and produced by entities operating in China’s Xinjiang province, said acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan and acting Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli on a call with reporters Jan. 13.
The New York Times, relying on a Horizon Advisory report that used press accounts and government announcements of workers transported from Xinjiang, said that Chinese producers of polysilicon could be compromised by forced labor. The story, published Jan. 8, acknowledged that the news articles and announcements suggest that the number of transferred workers is very small compared with the overall factory workforce. But U.S. law bans imports of any input with any amount of forced labor. The companies identified by consultancy Horizon Advisory supply more than a third of the world's polysilicon, which is used to make solar panels, according to the report. Nathan Picarsic, a founder of Horizon Advisory, is quoted as saying “what the firm had documented was likely 'just the tip of the iceberg.' If Americans are buying solar panels made with materials from these Chinese companies, he said, 'I would say you are complicit in perpetuating this Chinese industrial policy that suppresses and disenfranchises human beings.'”
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Dec. 28-31 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued a withhold release order for imported “tuna and other seafood harvested by the Lien Yi Hsing No. 12, a Taiwanese flagged and owned distant water fishing vessel,” CBP said in a news release. Effective Dec. 31, CBP will stop seafood from the vessel at all U.S. ports of entry, it said.