A Senate Finance Committee investigation into forced labor in imported autos' supply chains said that BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, after being notified by Lear Corporation that LAN transformers were made by a company on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, continued to export cars with those parts, or the parts themselves, into the U.S.
With the addition of 26 firms that source cotton from Xinijang, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's Entity List now has 36 textile firms -- more than half of the list.
DHS is adding 26 Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List because they allegedly source cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, it said in a notice released May 16. The companies, which are cotton traders and warehouse facilities, will be added to the list effective upon the notice's scheduled May 17 publication in the Federal Register. Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation.
CBP in April identified 392 shipments valued at more than $184 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 statistics update. The number of shipments detained is down from March's total of 749, but the value of those shipments is sharply up from the $32 million worth of shipments detained in March (see 2404150075). Also in April, CBP seized 1,736 shipments that contained counterfeit goods valued at more than $235 million if the items had been genuine, the agency said.
Customs lawyer John Foote, speaking at the Washington International Trade Association during a panel on import bans, investments and export controls, questioned whether the Biden administration is ready to coordinate forced labor import bans with allies, given how the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is still in its infancy.
Shein, an apparel e-commerce platform that has been in the crosshairs of the House Select Committee on China (see 2305030077) U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (see 2304140034), is ramping up its staffing for compliance, according to a memo sent to International Trade Today by a person close to Shein.
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The subcommittee that covers intellectual property issues under the House Judiciary Committee questioned how Congress should address the escalating volume of de minimis packages -- and the opportunities those shipments provide for sending counterfeits and goods made with forced labor, but the CBP witness responsible for de minimis and IP declined to back any of the ideas that were bandied about.
Automakers and their trade groups cautioned the Bureau of Industry and Security to tailor its restrictions narrowly -- and allow a phase-in -- if they want manufacturers to stop buying information technology components from China for cars with advanced features, including electric cars.
Canadian Solar, which is ramping up a 5-gigawatt solar panel manufacturing factory in Texas, told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that tariff rate quotas on solar cells under the current safeguard action and Section 301 tariffs on machinery that helps make solar panels and cells are harming solar manufacturers. Canadian Solar also is working on opening a solar cell plant in Indiana, but it won't open until late 2025. It imports cells made in Thailand. The TRQ only allows five gigawatts' worth of tariff-free cells in annually.