Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he sent a second round of letters to automakers and a round of letters to tier 1 suppliers about their ties to Xinjiang (see 2303280069) because he was disappointed by the tenor of the responses to his first round of letters in December.
The U.S. and Japan signed an agreement in Washington "formalizing the shared commitment of the Parties to facilitate trade, promote fair competition and market-oriented conditions for trade in critical minerals." The mini-deal that includes pledges not to impose export duties on the products, investment review within their countries for the sector, and a pledge to "confer on potential effective and appropriate domestic measures to address non-market policies and practices" that affect trade in critical minerals and critical minerals supply chains.
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.
After Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., heard from automakers that they ask their suppliers to pledge that they do not source inputs made with forced labor, he turned his attention to tier 1 suppliers to the major automakers, and is asking them the same questions he asked the eight major automakers back in December (see 2212220045). Although he asked automakers to detail how they do supply chain mapping, and asked if any of their goods have been subject to forced labor detentions, the companies did not reply with details.
Almost five years after the first round of 25% tariffs were put on Chinese imports, it was trade irritants with Mexico and India, as well as concerns about tariff preference programs and the lack of a market-opening strategy, that senators dwelled on during the U.S. Trade Representative's appearance in front of the Finance Committee.
CBP released a new CTPAT Alert on March 22 with information on what Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism members need to do to comply with new forced labor requirements in the trusted trader program that took effect Jan. 1.
Companies attempting to comply with U.S. laws against importing goods made with forced labor need to choose their words carefully when communicating with Chinese suppliers, said a trade lawyer on a recent webinar. A Chinese law enacted in recent years means using the words Uyghur or Xinjiang, among others, could expose the importer or their Chinese suppliers to legal liability.
CBP posted the following documents ahead of the March 29 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
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.
The head of the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force said one of the group's highest priorities this year is to add additional companies to the entity list of firms and organizations that either produce goods made with forced labor or are involved in the recruiting or transfer of minority workers out of Xinjiang to other parts of China.