The head of the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force said one of the group's highest priorities this year is to add additional companies to the entity list of firms and organizations that either produce goods made with forced labor or are involved in the recruiting or transfer of minority workers out of Xinjiang to other parts of China.
Mara Lee
Mara Lee, Senior Editor, is a reporter for International Trade Today and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. She joined the Warren Communications News staff in early 2018, after covering health policy, Midwestern Congressional delegations, and the Connecticut economy, insurance and manufacturing sectors for the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper (established 1674). Before arriving in Washington D.C. to cover Congress in 2005, she worked in Ohio, where she witnessed fervent presidential campaigning every four years.
The office of the Mexican Economy Secretary said it agrees with the U.S. that there is reason to investigate Unique Fabricating, a Michigan-headquartered manufacturer that makes foam, rubber and plastic components such as seals, door water shields, gaskets and glove box liners. Transformation Sindical told the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that managers at the plant in Queretaro, Mexico, denied them the ability to visit with workers at the site and give them the option of joining their union (see 2303090038). Mexico's government said March 17 that it will begin an investigation to see if workers at the plant were denied their rights to join an independent union. The USMCA Rapid Response Mechanism allows 45 days for that investigation.
Ten trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Foreign Trade Council, the Express Association of America, the American Chemistry Council and the Coalition of Services Industries, are asking President Joe Biden to bring up businesses' concerns about changes to customs procedures, chemical regulations and digital services taxes.
While the Section 232 tariffs increased domestic steel production by 5% and increased smelter utilization by about 15%, there was $3.4 billion less manufacturing across the most impacted metal consuming industries -- industrial machinery, cutlery and handtool factories; motor vehicle suspension and steering components; agricultural/mining/construction manufacturing, and metal fabricators, according to an International Trade Commission report.
The Senate recently passed, through unanimous consent, a bill that says that public disclosure of manifest information, such as the name and address of the importer or consignee and the name and address of the shipper, will not happen if the "Secretary of the Treasury makes an affirmative finding on a shipment-by-shipment basis that disclosure is likely to pose a threat of personal injury or property damage."
The Customs Business Fairness Act, a bill that would restore a carve-out to bankruptcy law that would protect customs brokers, was reintroduced in the House last week. The bill would make it so that the money that brokers send to CBP to pay tariffs is not subject to clawback if the clients who paid the tariff go bankrupt. In bankruptcy, clawback provisions are there so that company insiders or other parties don't get favorable payments just before a filing.
The administration would like to spend $24 million more for the industry and analysis section of the International Trade Administration, and $9 million more for enforcement and compliance, according to a detailed budget request released March 13. The ITA request also includes $5 million to help Treasury in "scoping and implementing" an outbound investment review program (see 2303090061).
For the second year in a row, members of Congress are arguing that they should vote to ban the import of Russian uranium (see 2203280068), but the Senate reintroduction of the bill is now bipartisan, with powerful swing vote Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on board.
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, one of the Democratic party's majority makers in 2018 and a centrist from the Houston area, will lead the trade task force in the New Democrat Coalition caucus this Congress. She said the New Dems want to advocate for tariff relief, and for tariff elimination with the U.K. and the EU. "The New Dems have long been at the center of driving pro-growth, pro-innovation policy that recognizes the importance of trade in our economy and the opportunities that it presents," she said at a recent press conference announcing the leaders of the task forces. Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., are the co-chairs of the task force, and both serve on the House Ways and Means Committee.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after her meeting with President Joe Biden that he agrees that the goal should be for critical minerals processed, mined or recycled in the EU to qualify under Inflation Reduction Act standards for electric vehicle batteries.