Sandler Travis Gathers Ad Hoc Group for Forced Labor Comments; Senators Prep 301 Exclusion Letter
Sandler Travis managing principal Nicole Bivens Collinson said that Sandler Travis is working with companies to develop comments to the federal government on how to implement the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (see 2201210031) because a lot of companies don't want their names on their comments. "We are creating an ad hoc coalition because I know a lot of companies don't want to go on record," partly "because they may be a global operation that has operations in China," she said, while speaking on a recent webinar hosted by the firm. China prohibits companies from adhering to foreign laws that negatively impact the country.
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She also said that senators are preparing to submit a letter to the U.S. trade representative asking that the Section 301 exclusion process be opened up to all importers that have goods subject to either 25% or 7.5% tariffs. Bivens Collinson said that as of Jan. 27, the letter had 31 signatures. She said it was similar to a recent House letter that received widespread support, from both parties (see 2201200019).
Also in Congress, she said, she'd never seen a retroactive refund under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill. The renewal proposed in the House China package would offer refunds on eligible goods for tariffs paid up to four months before enactment.
Bivens Collinson also talked about trade topics affected by executive action. She said that the fact that exclusions are still in place for imported steel from Europe, and they don't apply to tariff rate quota limits, could open the door for companies to try to hobble competitors. She said if a company knew its competitor also imported steel from Switzerland, for instance, it could decide not use its exclusion while the TRQ is open, so as to use more of it up in the hopes that the competitor would end up having to import past the TRQ and pay the 25% tariff. At that point, the company with the exclusion could start claiming the exclusion, and have a cost advantage. "There could be some mischief there," she said. She said that maybe within six months, Japanese and British steel could be under a similar TRQ arrangement.