Sen. Josh Hawley, a populist Republican from Missouri, has introduced a Generalized System of Preferences bill that would only allow the tariff benefits to be granted when unemployment is below 4% in the U.S. The unemployment rate has been below 4% less than two years of the last 20. This version of GSP would also bar any country that the Department of Labor identifies as a country where there's a problem with forced labor or the worst forms of child labor.
The National Council of Textile Organizations is asking the incoming Joe Biden administration to create a stable market for domestic production of medical gloves, gowns, masks and face shields, both by requirements and supporting demand. The Berry Amendment, which covers military uniforms, should apply to federal purchases of medical protective gear purchases, CEO Kim Glas said Dec. 3 in a news release. She also said the federal government should sign long-term federal contracts for personal protective equipment, or PPE.
CBP will no longer stop imports of bone black produced by Brazil's Bonechar Carvão Ativado do Brasil Ltda (Bonechar), the agency said in a Dec. 7 news release. The WRO change is effective Dec. 4, though imports of “bone black produced by Bonechar prior to the effective date of the WRO modification remain inadmissible,” it said. The WRO on bone black, a powdered carbon product made from burned cow bones used in the water filtration and sugar refining industries, was issued in 2019 (see 1910010017). CBP made the change “after receiving detailed information about the labor conditions under which Bonechar produces bone black,” it said. There is enough evidence to show “Bonechar and an affiliated importer’s claim that the bone black from the company has not been produced using forced labor since at least August 2020,” CBP said. The agency said “the company addressed each of the five indicators of forced labor identified by CBP in a submission which incorporated data from worker interviews, a site visit, and document reviews.”
CBP posted multiple documents ahead of the Dec. 16 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
Two CBP questionnaires focused on forced labor that reportedly were issued recently to importers (see 2012020046) are part of the agency's targeting work, an agency spokesperson said in a Dec. 3 email. CBP “assesses risks and communicates routinely with importers about their responsibility to exercise due diligence and reasonable care to ensure that the goods they import into the United States are compliant with federal laws and regulations, including those pertaining to forced labor,” he said. “As part of that outreach, CBP may solicit supply chain information to identify risks, target violative shipments, and ensure effective enforcement of U.S. trade laws and regulations.”
The head of the House Ways and Means Committee, along with the chairman and a senior member of the Trade Subcommittee, said Dec. 3 that they “have deep concerns about CBP’s ability” to effectively enforce a withhold release order on cotton produced by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (see 2012030021). As evidence, they cited a recent Government Accountability Office report on CBP enforcement of imports of goods made with forced labor that was not publicly released.
The “idea of a regional” withhold release order is “certainly not out of play,” Department of Homeland Security acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said during a Dec. 2 conference call to announce a WRO on Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps cotton (see 2012020071). Such an action remains “legally doable,” though it takes a different “quantum of evidence to accomplish,” he said. CBP previously considered XPCC and regional WROs, but declined to go ahead with those in September (see 2009140040).
CBP recently sent a pair of questionnaires to importers regarding the use of forced labor in supply chains, the U.S. Fashion Industry Association said in a Dec. 1 blog post. “To our knowledge, the questionnaires, which relate to cotton, have not yet been distributed widely,” it said. Much of the information inquired about may not be available to importers so the questionnaires may be an effort from CBP “to get an idea of what they might expect from importers as a practical matter,” it said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a press release Dec. 1 asking people to call their members of Congress to argue against watering down the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (see 2011300034). The group was responding to a report in The New York Times that business interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Nike and Apple, are asking Congress to weaken the bill, which would prohibit imports of many products made by Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province in an effort to halt the use of forced labor and other human rights abuses.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America published advice to the transitioning Joe Biden administration, which includes a call to continue and intensify the kind of tariff and sanctions policies used by the Trump administration, and to go further, such as by raising the bound tariffs at the World Trade Organization. The CPA also asked for countrywide withhold release orders for forced labor, a reduction of the $800 de minimis level and a change in the makeup of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee. “The membership of COAC should equal representation by domestic businesses and labor harmed by unlawful imports, rather than being dominated by multinationals and importer interests,” they said.