The House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee will hold a hearing July 21 online at 10 a.m. on " The Global Challenge of Forced Labor in Supply Chains: Strengthening Enforcement and Protecting Workers."
Concerns about apparel shipments being detained due to a withhold release order were the biggest worry for U.S. Fashion Industry Association Virtual Washington Trade Symposium attendees, and USFIA customs counsel John Pellegrini told them he had no news to allay their fears.
The Airbus settlement paves the way for collaboration on shared challenges, "including those posed by the anti-competitive practices of China and other non-market economies," U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said she and British Trade Secretary Liz Truss agreed during their meeting July 13. According to the USTR's readout of the meeting, both leaders "stressed the importance of fair competition in the global economy and agreed to work together both bilaterally and through multilateral fora to promote fair competition, enhance the international trade system, and address forced labor issues. Ambassador Tai and Secretary Truss committed to continue strengthening the trade and economic partnership between the United States and United Kingdom."
The new Xinjiang Supply Chain Business Advisory tells businesses that may have operations, supply chains or laborers from China's Xinjiang region that they "should be aware of the significant reputational, economic, and legal risks of involvement with entities or individuals in or linked to Xinjiang that engage in human rights abuses, including but not limited to forced labor and intrusive surveillance." The interagency advisory says that businesses that do not exit Xinjiang connections "could run a high risk of violating U.S. law. Potential legal risks include: violation of statutes criminalizing forced labor including knowingly benefitting from participation in a venture, while knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the venture has engaged in forced labor; sanctions violations if dealing with designated persons; export control violations; and violation of the prohibition of importations of goods produced in whole or in part with forced labor or convict labor."
Cynthia Whittenburg, who retired as CBP deputy executive assistant commissioner in the Office of Trade earlier this year (see 2102090059), joined the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Educational Institute (NEI) as an associate director, the trade association said in an emailed July 6 news release. Whittenburg will “assist in expanding the delivery of our content though institutions of higher learning as well as other appropriate avenues as well as assist in the development of additional courses needed to continue our mission,” NEI Executive Director Kiko Zuniga said. “Some of these courses will deal with current issues such as forced labor, USMCA, to name a few.” While at CBP, Whittenburg helped in examining the need for continuing education requirements for customs brokers (see 1910160056), an issue that CBP is still working on and that the NEI is following closely (see 2105040004).
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from June 28 - July 2 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The rules for forced labor documentation will likely become as detailed as the rules on conflict mineral reporting, Angelica Tsakiridis, a senior manager at Deloitte, said July 1 at a virtual conference hosted by the American Importers and Exporters Association. CBP has been working on a rulemaking around forced labor for years (see 1805100026), but it remains to be seen whether documentation requirements will be included.
The recent surge in forced labor enforcement by CBP has been accompanied by a lack of transparency and a “broad and vague” interpretation of the withhold release orders the agency uses to block suspect goods, customs lawyer Robert Stang of Husch Blackwell said during a recent webinar.
Taiwan and the U.S. had their first official meeting under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement since 2016, and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Terry McCartin praised Taiwan for improving its enforcement of trade secrets protections, and its plan to change its medical device approval process.
Government representatives who oversee labor issues from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico held the first meeting of the USMCA Labor Council, and discussed both the implementation of Mexico's labor law reform and a complaint about the treatment of Mexican migrant workers in the U.S., and how abuses of migrant workers could be avoided in the future, whether through education and oversight through U.S. government agencies, or a better way of running seasonal work visas.