The Biden-Harris Administration has announced a series of new actions aimed at addressing the growing abuse of the de minimis exemption, particularly by e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Shein and Temu. The administration’s efforts come in response to a significant rise in de minimis shipments, which have increased from 140 million annually to over one billion in the last decade, complicating efforts to regulate imports and block illegal goods.
Majority staff from the Homeland Security and Select China Committees released a report recapping their efforts to draw attention to the role of Chinese suppliers in U.S. Port Security. China's Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (ZPMC), the world’s largest STS crane manufacturer is an entity of particular focus of the report. Producing nearly 80% of the STS cranes used at U.S. ports ZPMC commands 70% of the global market share.
The Commerce Department has announced a new tool for analyzing supply chain resiliance. Introduced at the inaugural Supply Chain Summit in Washington, the SCALE tool represents an effort to build the U.S. Government’s analytical capacity to understand and address supply chain risk. Officails also used the event to announce a redoubled effort to direct federal funds to favored industries via the Chips and Science Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
A new air cargo screening directive issued Aug. 21 by the TSA has some carriers looking for clarification from the U.S. government, and at least one carrier has issued an embargo on U.S. routes via Europe. The emergency amendment – with restricted access –requires carriers to submit additional details of shippers and consignees to the US Customs and Border Protection agency.
Evidently the "strong concerns with Canada’s unilateral digital service tax" the USTR cited in the readout of last weeks meeting between Ambassador Katherine Tai and Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade, and Economic Development, Mary Ng. Involved a preview of a USMCA dispute settlement complaint. Friday Tai announced that the United States has requested dispute settlement consultations with Canada under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) regarding Canada’s recently enacted digital service tax (DST).
Congressional China hawks have called for U.S. Department of Defense to immediately place Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) on the Section 1260H List, which provides transparency on Chinese military companies operating in the United States. Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging the move, stating "By including CATL on the Section 1260H List, the DoD would not only safeguard America’s military infrastructure from exposure to the PLA, it would also send a powerful signal to U.S. companies who are currently weighing partnerships with CATL.”
Heads of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party called on the Commerce Department to explain what steps and authorities are needed to address the "white label" resale of drones made by Chinese maker DJI by Hong Kong and Texas firms,
The Commerce Department Friday announced its list of critical sectors and key goods for potential cooperation under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement to strengthen supply chain resiliency. Under the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement, each Party committed to developing a list of “critical sectors” and “key goods” for cooperation under the Agreement, to be shared through the Council. These lists are intended to be iterative and change as needed over time.
Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose Fernandez is traveling to South America for official discussions on critical minerals supply chains and developments in the Americas Partnership. Mr. Fernandez is visiting Argentina, Ecuador and Peru through August 29.
House lawmakers are raising questions about US biopharmaceutical companies that are conducting clinical trials with China’s People’s Liberation Army and in the Xinjiang region where Beijing is accused of mistreating members of the Uyghur community. Chinese biopharmaceutical companies, with their ability to harness China’s large population of patients to conduct time- and cost-efficient clinical trials play a vital role in the global pharmaceutical industry. The lawmakers want the Food and Drug Administration to provide information about these practices.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced today that the United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Pirelli Neumaticos, S.A. de C.V (Pirelli), facility in the city of Silao de la Victoria in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The petition alleged Pirelli is not applying the sector-wide agreement (contrato ley) covering the rubber manufacturing industry at the facility and is instead applying a singular collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with benefits inferior to those in the contrato ley.
The Department of Defense announced Monday a $20 million award via the Defense Production Act Investments (DPAI) office to Electra Battery Materials Corporation, a Canadian mining firm attempting to recommission an idled plant to process cobalt sulfate imported from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The award utilizes funds from the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022 and supports the 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy goal of expanding domestic production of critical minerals.
New legislation aimed at boosting US steel production proposes imposing tariffs on imports of carbon-intensive steel. Introduced in Johnstown, PA by California Rep. Ro Khanna, the Modern Steel Act, introduced by a group of House Democrats, would offer funding and incentives for the construction of new facilities producing near-zero emissions iron and/or steel, using cutting edge technologies like hydrogen direct reduction.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China are calling on the Commerce Department to investigate the threat posed by Chinese wi-fi routers made by TP-Link Technologies. The company is subject to draconian national security laws in China and can be forced to hand over sensitive US information by Chinese intelligence officials, committee chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich) and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill) wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is raising concerns that China is distorting the market for mature node semiconductors by overproducing the chips. She told investors at a roundtable discussion that China’s non-market actions are preventing US companies and those in in US ally countries, from competing on a level playing field. To combat China’s practices, Ms. Raimondo said the Administration will continue to impose targeted tariffs on semiconductors imported from China.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore) has introduced much-anticipated bipartisan legislation to tighten imports requirements for low-value packages in order to close the so- called de minimis loophole. The bill would prohibit the use of the $800 de minimis threshold to import certain types of goods, including goods that are import-sensitive or subject to additional trade remedies.
Continuing its efforts to highlight what it labels “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity “against Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in the Uyghur Region of Western China, The US Department of Homeland Security announced the addition of five Chinese entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, bringing the total entities listed to 73. Effective August 9, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply a rebuttable presumption that goods produced by the five firms, a copper miner, a constructions engineering firm, and three magnesium-related concerns, will be prohibited from entering the United States.
Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) has received an application for final commitment for a long-term loan or financial guarantee to support the work of Honeywell UOC's engineering of the Pengareng Energy Complex at the tip of the Malaysian Peninsula. In February the Board received a request to increase the financed amount to a $743 million direct loan to support the export of approximately $439 million worth of U.S. engineering services, design services, licenses, catalysts, and refining equipment.
The United States and Mexico today announced a course of remediation at the Volkswagen de México, S.A. de C.V. facility in Cuautlancingo, Puebla. The facility is the largest automobile manufacturing plant in Mexico and among Volkswagen Group’s largest plants globally.
the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) approved a final commitment for more than $11.3 million to support the financing of two self-refrigerated nitrogen …