A withhold release order on silicon produced by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., Ltd., a company located in China's Xinjiang province, and its subsidiaries, was based on credible reports that workers were subject to intimidation and threats, and that they had their movements restricted, the acting CBP commissioner said during a press conference June 24. The material produced by Hoshine is a primary input in solar panels.
CBP will be detaining silica-based products made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries under a new withhold release order, the White House announced June 24. The agency said there is information that indicates that Hoshine used forced labor in manufacturing these products. The polysilicon produced in the Xinjiang region of China is a core material in solar panels made in Asia.
Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, testifying at a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing, said that in order to implement more withhold release orders, the Department of Homeland Security needs more resources to do investigations in the foreign countries where forced labor is alleged.
CBP posted multiple documents ahead of the June 23 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
CBP doesn't like the idea of publicly listing the foreign suppliers known to use forced labor as part of withhold release orders that don't target specific entities, said Therese Randazzo, director of the forced labor division in the trade remedy and law enforcement directorate at CBP. Such a list would result in obfuscation by those companies and U.S. importers are required to use reasonable care, said Randazzo, who spoke June 16 during a panel on forced labor hosted by Arent Fox and the New York State Bar Association. Unlike other WROs, regional WROs, such as the one on cotton and tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region (see 2101130053), don't name specific companies subject to the order.
Although the Senate Finance Committee's bipartisan amendment to the China package received 91 votes, some prominent Democrats on trade in the House aren't sure how its provisions could move in their chamber, if Republicans don't agree to calling them up under suspension, which requires a two-thirds vote for passage.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from June 7-11 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Biden administration emphasized how reaching an agreement to end a 17-year-dispute over government subsidies to both Airbus and Boeing does more than just lift tariffs for at least five years. They see the most significant plank of the agreement as the one in which European Union countries agree to prevent foreign investments in the aerospace sector that are done to acquire technology or know-how, and to counter investments by European aerospace companies in China or other countries that are done in response to incentives or because the investments are a condition to sell in that market.
The leaders of Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, the U.S. and Italy agreed to work collectively toward eradicating the use of all forms of forced labor in global supply chains, and said they want concrete suggestions ready before the G-7 trade ministers' meeting in October.
The Treasury Department published its spring 2021 regulatory agenda for CBP. The agenda includes some details about a proposal to change USMCA rules for non-preferential origin determinations for merchandise imported from Canada or Mexico. The proposal was previously disclosed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, within the Office of Management and Budget (see 2105120051), where it remains under review.