CBP in April identified 460 shipments valued at more than $197 million for further examination based on the suspected use of forced labor, including goods subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and withhold release orders, the agency said in its most recent operational update. That's up from April's total of 377 shipments valued at more than $159 million (see 2305180061). CBP also seized 1,980 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $216 million, and completed 26 audits that identified $1 million in duties and fees owed to the U.S. government for goods that had been improperly declared, the agency said.
It is incumbent upon "all companies to conduct more rigorous due diligence," to make sure they are in compliance with laws prohibiting forced labor, a new brief from Sheffield Hallam University said on June 19. "Know Your Supply Chains: Desk-Based Research Strategies to Identify Uyghur Region Exposure," part of a series of briefs, focuses on strategies companies can employ to discover whether or not they are using suppliers from the Uyghur region of China.
CBP hopes that the customs modernization law is passed in time to use its authorities in the reprogramming of ACE, with a goal of providing CBP and partner government agencies "with better quality data, much earlier in the supply chain, often in real time," John Leonard, deputy executive assistant commissioner in CBP's Office of Trade, said June 20.
The U.S. is trying to negotiate with Canada and Mexico on auto rules of origin details, rather than complying with a dispute settlement panel decision that originating supercore parts are considered 100% North American as you calculate the vehicle regional value content, according to the leader of the trade group that represents Detroit's Big Three automakers.
"Activity" is "on the horizon" related to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, Lesleyanne Kessler, CBP’s deputy associate chief counsel, said at an event on June 13. Following the recent addition of new companies to the list for the first time since the list was released in June 2022 (see 2306090011), Kessler said she expects the process for an interagency task force to add companies or remove them from the list "will be moving ahead in the coming year."
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee has reintroduced a bill eliminating Chinese shippers' eligibility for de minimis, keeping the ban on China, and adding a requirement that remaining de minimis shipments include at a minimum: a description; an HTS code; a country of origin, shipper, importer; and a U.S. value. The new version also dropped language around sections 232 and 301 tariffs in the previous version.
A recently introduced bill would end Chinese and Russian shippers' eligibility for de minimis, and would order the Treasury Department to determine, within 180 days, what rates the other countries deserve for de minimis, based on both their own de minimis treatment of U.S. shipments and their threshold to collect a value-added tax, if they have one.
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.
A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce said the U.S. should immediately halt its political manipulation and smear attacks in response to the recent U.S. listing of two Chinese companies and their subsidiaries under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, according to an unofficial translation. The U.S. added Ninestar and Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical for working with the Xinjiang government to "recruit, transport, transfer, harbor or receive forced labor or Uyghurs” and other persecuted groups (see 2306090011). The Commerce Ministry spokesperson said that there is no forced labor in Xinjiang and that China will take the necessary steps to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.
Countries in the Five Eyes Alliance, plus Japan, have issued a joint declaration on non-market practices and trade related economic coercion that they say "undermine the functioning of and confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system by distorting trade, investment, and competition and harming relations between countries."