A bill introduced by House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., in the House and by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the Senate would create a rebuttable presumption about forced labor in Xinjiang, China, which would mean any companies that import goods made in that region “must demonstrate through 'clear and convincing' evidence that there was no forced labor in their supply chains,” according to a release announcing the bill's introduction.
Two bills that affect imports passed on a voice vote out of the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 11. Committee Chairman Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., noted that the Cosmetic Safety Enhancement Act, H.R. 5279, is a bill he introduced in 2019 “to improve and advance the safety of cosmetics and other personal care products. Congress has not updated FDA’s authority to regulate these products in over 80 years. It is long past time that we act so that we can ensure consumers are safe and have confidence in the products they use every day.”
A Congressional-Executive Commission on China released a report on March 11 that spelled out a number of concerns around the use of forced labor in China. “The risk for complicity in forced labor is high for any company importing goods directly from [Xinjiang] or those partnering with a Chinese company operating in the region,” it said. The report recommended that the administration consider “issuing a comprehensive import ban on all goods produced, wholly or in part, in [Xinjiang] until a determination can be made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that [the province's] authorities and producers have ended the systematic use of forced labor“ of Muslim ethnic minorities. The CECC had a hearing on the issue last year (see 1910170039). The National Council of Textile Organizations said March 11 that it agrees with the CECC recommendations.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters that the coronavirus outbreak's impact on China's factories has shown policymakers that the U.S. is too dependent on China for imports. “There ought to be more manufacturing in the United States, but that isn't just on pharmaceuticals, but that could be on anything you're having these supply chains are being interfered with,” he said March 11 in his office at the Capitol.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaking to reporters on a conference call March 10, addressed his participation in a friend of the court brief by saying that he hasn't turned away from the idea of legislating in favor of lawsuits. Grassley, along with the top Democrat on his committee and other senators, entered a friend of the court brief designed to force the administration to publish its report on why imported autos and auto parts are a threat to national security (see 2003090034). He said both the law that contains Section 232 and the law that allowed for the Section 301 tariffs on China need to be fixed to give Congress more say on tariff policy. “I think we can do more in the legislative approach than you can in the courts, but we’re looking at both,” he said. “You take every opportunity you can to make sure the Constitution is followed.”
The coronavirus epidemic continues to threaten global supply chains as governments increase prevention measures around the world, experts told the House Small Business Committee during a March 10 hearing. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, suggested that what he characterized as overreactions by governments led to discrimination by other countries on the original country's trade and travel. He cited “unjustified documentation” requested from Greek importers of Italian cheese, problems in Poland for Italian lettuce, Kuwait's resistance to Italian fruit, and Ukraine refusing Italian-grown apples.
The U.S. Trade Representative's annual report on China's compliance with World Trade Organization commitments details many of the same problems noted in previous years' reports, but they wrote that this year “we focus on the positive outcomes to date of the Administration’s new and more effective strategy for engaging China, which has led to the signing of an historic trade agreement with China,” while also talking about “the important issues that remain to be addressed in our trade relationship with China.”
An update to the Congressional Research Service's report on rules of origin notes that some in the trade community believe that more restrictive rules of origin, such as those that will be part of the NAFTA rewrite for autos, raise compliance costs for traders and may lead companies to avoid using the free trade agreement because the rules are so onerous. Because of those critiques, Congress may want to consider that in future FTAs, the report said.
After a dinner in Florida attended by President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro, the two issued a joint statement March 7 on how they would like to reach “a bilateral trade package this year.” Because Brazil is in Mercosur, a South American customs union, tariffs are unlikely to be part of such a deal. They also discussed expediting Brazil's participation in the Trusted Trader program, “to streamline commerce between both countries by ensuring the security and safety of imported goods, with a goal of program entry in 2021.”
The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and five other Republican senators signed on to a friend of the court brief pushing for the publication of the Commerce Department report on how imported autos and auto parts imperil national security. The brief, filed March 6, reminds the judge that Congress required the Commerce Department to release the report by Jan. 19 and that the original law that contains Section 232 requires publication of the report. The case the senators are joining is a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Cause of Action Institute filed last month.