RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP is "looking at better ways" to address concerns about what brokers are supposed to do to vet their customers for potential trafficking in fentanyl, meth and other illegal drugs, said Rosa Hernandez, CBP San Diego Area Port director.
The U.S. will look for ways to improve the African Growth and Opportunity Act at the 20th AGOA forum in Johannesburg next weekend, two high-level trade policymakers said during a Oct. 26 press briefing.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who traveled to China with the Senate majority leader and other senators in mid-October, said what he saw there reinforced his desire to pass what he calls a "foreign pollution fee," a tariff on imports that are more carbon intensive than domestic production. He told International Trade Today that he'll introduce the bill "we think later this month, or maybe early next month."
The co-chairs of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China called on DHS to report on actions it has taken to address forced labor in seafood supply chains, noting that the agency already had been informed of the contents of a recent article detailing forced labor in Chinese seafood processing operations before it was published.
EPA is finalizing new regulations banning the use of certain hydrofluorocarbons with a high global warming potential in imported and newly manufactured aerosol, foam, refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump products. The bans take effect between 2025 and 2028, depending on the product.
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.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance announced it has filed a formal allegation with CBP that shrimp harvested in Argentina and processed in China by Qingdao Yize should be barred from entry into the U.S. because, it argues, Uyghur workers have been transferred to processing plants in Shandong province.
A House subcommittee hearing on the government's implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act zoomed in on de minimis shipments, low incidence of cotton isotopic testing and the slow pace of adding businesses to the UFLPA Entity List, which captures companies that accept labor transfers outside of Xinjiang.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., the lead sponsor of the Customs Business Fairness Act, said that although the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill to which it has been attached (see 2309060049) has not come out of committee, he still thinks language protecting customs brokers when their clients declare bankruptcy could get attached to funding bills in coming months.
The Commerce Department failed to address contradicting that the U.S. industry couldn't timely provide tin mill products when it denied Seneca Foods' requests for exclusions from Section 232 steel and aluminum duties, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Oct. 18 opinion.