The EU is in line to ban products made using forced labor, likely targeting shoes, clothes and commodities including timber, fish and cocoa, the Financial Times reported. The European Commission is expected to announce plans to implement a ban this week, and the Green/European Free Alliance bloc in the European Parliament has publicly declared support for restrictions that emulate the U.S.' ban on all goods from China's Xinjiang province.
Twenty-seven House Republicans, led by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, asked CBP to defend its implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in light of a recent report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (see 2209060033). They asked if any red jujube dates from Xinjiang have entered the U.S. since June 21, and if so, how many shipments have done so.
CBP posted several documents ahead of the Sept. 14 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai had a first video call with Japan's new trade minister, Nishimura Yasutoshi, ahead of an in-person meeting next week. "Ambassador Tai and Minister Nishimura reaffirmed ongoing collaboration to address non-market policies and practices, including economic coercion, and shared commitment to respect internationally-recognized worker rights, including eradicating forced labor," USTR's readout said. This followed a lower-level series of meetings, called the U.S.-Japan Partnership on Trade, where the U.S. said they discussed regulatory transparency, standards issues that are barriers to U.S. exports of products and services, and the U.S.'s desire that Japan buy more ethanol.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jayme White emphasized the importance of Mexico blocking the import of goods made with forced labor, the importance of a science- and risk-based regulatory approval process for agricultural biotechnology, implementation of labor reform and the importance of hearing from stakeholders as new regulations are developed, according to a readout of his Aug. 23 meeting with Mexico's Under Secretary for Foreign Trade, Luz Maria de la Mora. The Mexican government didn't release a readout of what was discussed during the video call.
The U.S. and Taiwan this week agreed to soon begin trade talks under a new initiative aimed at increasing trade in goods and removing “discriminatory barriers,” the Office of U.S. Trade Representative said. The negotiations, which USTR said are set to begin “early this fall,” also will include discussions on trade facilitation measures, anti-corruption, agriculture, technology standards, digital trade, labor and non-market policies. The U.S. and Taiwan plan to “pursue an ambitious schedule” for the talks, Deputy USTR Sarah Bianchi said, adding the discussions will result in a “fairer, more prosperous and resilient 21st century economy.”
Although President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump's China tariffs on the campaign trail, Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow Chad Bown said he always thought it was unlikely Biden would roll any of them back, because there are "huge political costs" to doing so, because opponents could label you as "weak on China."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a July 19 opinion denied Hong Kong-based apparel company Changji Esquel Textile's (CJE) bid for a preliminary injunction against its placement on the Commerce Department's Entity List, calling it "a Hail Mary pass." Judges Judith Rogers, Patricia Millett and Gregory Katsas held that CJE's claims that human rights violations are not proper grounds to be placed on the Entity List are not likely to succeed, upholding the district court's ruling saying the same thing.
Just as the U.S. trade representative declined to continue work toward a traditional free trade agreement with the U.K. begun during the previous administration, current USTR Katherine Tai announced July 14 that trade talks with Kenya will deal with trade facilitation, digital trade, science-based sanitary and phytosanitary rules and rooting out forced labor in supply chains -- not reducing tariffs on either side.
In its recently issued Forced Labor Enforcement Strategy, DHS said CBP is making use of the Bureau of Industry and Security's export enforcement arm to identify Xinjiang entities that are involved in forced labor. CBP uses a “range of sources and research tools, both public and non-public,” to identify the entities, DHS said in its strategy document, including the interagency end-user review committee, which selects the parties that are added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List.