Imports of disposable gloves made by Top Glove Corporation in Malaysia may be seized by CBP as of March 29 under a finding that the company uses forced labor, CBP said in a notice released March 26. CBP's finding follows a withhold release order aimed at the company's gloves in July last year (see 2007150032). A CBP official recently said more findings are likely to come (see 2103120051).
A broader governmental approach would be important and helpful in the bigger fight to stop forced labor within supply chains, said Brian White, vice president-compliance at The J.M. Smucker Co., in a March 23 email. White's email was in response to a request for comment on some criticisms of recommendations from the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's Forced Labor Working Group (see 2103230027).
U.S.Trade Representative Katherine Tai talked with Japan's Trade Minister Kajiyama Hiroshi about how they're concerned about unfair trading practices from non-market economies such as China, but did not mention that topic coming up with the South Korean trade minister. South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee and Tai talked about how the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement strengthened economic ties, and discussed World Trade Organization reform, the call summary said. The Korean press emphasized agreement on writing digital trade rules. Tai also spoke with Mexican Economy Secretary Tatiana Clouthier, and they talked about fully implementing USMCA and Mexico's labor reform. “Tai also stressed the critical importance of cooperation on climate and environmental issues, as well as reform at the World Trade Organization and the mutual benefits of robust bi-lateral agricultural trade,” a readout of the talk said. Clouthier tweeted her thanks for such a productive meeting.
A bill that would reverse permanent normal trade relations with China was introduced by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., on March 17. It would require annual presidential approval for most favored nation status, but also would rewrite the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to say countries with trade abuses and human rights abuses would not be permitted to have MFN status. “For twenty years, China has held permanent most-favored-nation status, which has supercharged the loss of American manufacturing jobs. It’s time to protect American jobs and hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their forced labor camps and egregious human rights violations,” Cotton said in a press release.
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The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's Forced Labor Working Group's recommendations seem to be “of a piece of a general overall attitude by U.S. importers to try and ride out the current widespread public outrage,” the Southern Shrimp Alliance said in a March 22 letter to CBP's Office of Trade Forced Labor Division Director Therese Randazzo. The SSA said “each of these recommendations appears designed to complicate and further limit the agency’s ability to effectively enforce” Section 1307 of the U.S. Code. The COAC approved the recommendations for submission to CBP at a March 17 meeting (see 2103160027).
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai opened her first full week on the job with a series of video calls with major allies and trading partners -- Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union -- and diplomatic summaries of the calls from both sides mostly echoed each other, suggesting there was a good deal of agreement.
The Senate and House versions of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act have diverged fairly substantially and the law seems likely to ultimately be closer to the Senate approach, said Ray Bucheger, a lobbyist at FBB Federal Relations. The House bill is more punitive, including a requirement for CBP to name and shame importers whose goods are detained. The Senate bill requires public comment and a public hearing open to importers before establishing a strategy to prevent the importation of goods made with forced labor. Part of that process is expected to produce guidance to importers, and there will still be a rebuttable presumption that goods from China's Xinjiang region were made with forced labor, but if importers implemented the guidance, that would change the burden of proof, according to Bucheger.
The chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee said they want to work together on improving enforcement of America's ban on the importation of goods made with forced labor, with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, saying, “I'm glad this is an issue we both care deeply about.” They spoke at the beginning of a two-hour hearing on fighting forced labor March 18. Crapo said that Congress should pass the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which would create a rebuttable assumption that goods made in Xinjiang were made with forced labor. Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said CBP needs more resources to enforce the ban. Crapo also said CBP regulation must provide thoughtful guidance “so Americans know how to avoid importing these goods.”
Malaysian palm oil exporter Sime Darby Plantation Berhad moved to dismiss a lawsuit against Duncan Jepson, managing director of the nongovernmental organization Liberty Shared, because the underlying investigation by the Securities Commission of Malaysia was dropped, in a March 16 filing with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Sime Darby had sought to force Jepson to disclose information relevant to forced labor allegations Jepson filed with the Securities Commission in connection with the investigation (see 2103120040). The U.S. still has a withhold release order in place on the company's palm oil.