DHS is adding more companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, according to a notice released Oct. 31. Esquel Group, also known as Esquel China Holdings Limited; Guangdong Esquel Textile; and Turpan Esquel Textile are being added for sourcing material from Xinjiang or from persons working with the government of Xinjiang or the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps for purposes of China's ‘‘poverty alleviation’’ program or ‘‘pairing-assistance’’ program, among other Chinese government labor schemes. The notice also appears to change the reason an already listed company, Changji Esquel Textile, is on the list, removing the company from one of the four lists that make up the broader UFLPA Entity List but adding it to another. The changes take effect Nov. 1.
Executives from FloraTrace, an isotopic testing service, and Rezylient, an UFLPA insurance product, told an audience of customs brokers that isotopic testing isn't just for cotton-containing products.
Four Democratic senators are asking the Treasury Department to end de minimis treatment for all e-commerce shipments, arguing that the regulations under development to restrict de minimis would not go far enough to curtail fentanyl smuggling.
CBP will bolster a number of existing initiatives in the coming months aimed at preventing the import of products made with forced labor, said Katie Woodson, assistant director within the operations and forced labor divisions of CBP's Office of Trade, during a panel on forced labor at last week's Western Cargo Conference.
Because China makes 90% of anode and cathode materials, and dominates processing of critical minerals, no matter where they are mined, recent hikes in tariffs on Chinese minerals will do little, trade experts agreed.
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Decoupling between the U.S. and China in the most technologically advanced products is real, economists said at an Oct. 21 Peterson Institute for International Economics event, but trade overall between the two countries continues to grow, if more slowly than trade with other partners.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the lead sponsor of a bill to impose a 30% tariffs on Chinese drones, with a 5% escalation annually, as well as a bill banning Da-Jiang Innovations-made drones on U.S. communications infrastructure, reacted to the news that CBP is detaining DJI drones under suspicion they are made with Uyghur forced labor.
Chinese drone supplier DJI said CBP is holding up shipments of select drones. In a blog post Oct. 17, the company said CBP cited the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) as the reason for the holdups. DJI denied that any of its goods were produced with forced labor, saying, “this assertion made against [us] ... is entirely unfounded and categorically false.” The company said it's working with CBP to provide the necessary documentation, “demonstrating [its] compliance with the UFLPA.” CBP declined to comment.
Officials from Squire Patton Boggs said that if Donald Trump returns to the presidency, a 10% tariff or higher on a vast swath of imports could come very quickly, but what wouldn't be subject to the tariffs is not yet clear.