Co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. are asking Apple to engage with CBP to ensure that the company's supply chains are free of forced labor, and that they do not hire suppliers that accept "labor transfer" workers. According to press reports, Uyghur workers are being transplanted to other parts of China, in addition to their conscription at local factories and fields. CBP didn't comment.
The administration issued a lengthy report after a 100-day review of supply chain vulnerabilities that recommends a lot of reshoring of manufacturing, in semiconductors, critical minerals and pharmaceutical ingredients, but also suggests a "trade strike force" to be deployed against unfair foreign trade practices that have hurt domestic companies that contribute to critical supply chains.
A Japanese and a Korean economist said that trade tensions between their two countries are no longer really disrupting Korea's semiconductor industry, though they are still increasing costs for some of the Japanese exporters.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely June 23, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by June 22.
A senator and a House member who sponsored the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in their respective chambers have asked the union that represents National Basketball Association players to consider the fact that Chinese sportswear companies Anta, Li-Ning and Peak use cotton grown in the Xinjang region. The U.S. blocks the importation of all cotton grown in Xinjiang because of the probability that it was planted or harvested with forced labor of Uyghur Muslims. The National Basketball Players Association didn't immediately comment.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from May 24-28 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Top trade officials from Europe, Japan and North America emphasized problematic economic behavior in China, without mentioning the world's second-largest economy by name, at the end of the G-7 meeting of trade ministers.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., praised CBP's withhold release order on Dalian Ocean Fishing (see 2105280019). "The Biden administration’s action represents an important step forward on forced labor enforcement -- the previous administration had only been willing to take action against individual vessels, even though it is widely recognized that when forced labor occurs it’s often pervasive throughout entire fishing fleets. In this case, CBP’s actions come after several reports indicated that crew members aboard the fishing company have died due to harsh working conditions," he said in a statement after the WRO was announced. He noted that the U.S. trade representative proposed at the World Trade Organization that the overfishing negotiations include the issue of forced labor. "I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues in Congress and the administration towards stronger forced labor enforcement as well as addressing the interlinked issues of forced labor and environmental protection,” he said May 28.
An amendment that will allow expanded information sharing from CBP on counterfeits, and which will renew the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill, will be part of the China package expected to pass the week of June 8. The amendment, sponsored by Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, was modified slightly from its first introduction, when it failed to pass the filibuster threshold of 60 votes. This version, which passed with 91 votes on May 27, no longer expands a forced labor initiative on seafood to all seafood products.
CBP's “claim of 'forced labor, abuse of crew members and withholding of pay' is fabrication that is totally inconsistent with facts,” China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a May 31 news conference in response to a question about a withhold release order issued against the Dalian Ocean Fishing Company. The company “has never sold any products to the U.S., and there's nothing to detain in the first place,” he said.