Domestic Industry Group Calls for China-Wide Withhold Release Order

A withhold release order aimed at goods from China's Xinjiang region wouldn't go far enough in the fight against forced labor, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a Nov. 9 letter to Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. CBP should instead hit all of China with a WRO, the CPA said. CBP is considering a regional WRO (see 2009140040), which was in itself already seen by some industries as major and potentially onerous action. A “country wide-WRO is the only approach to stopping forced labor,” the trade group said.

“Country-wide import bans are straightforward and effective for CBP, while regional-WROs are not and lack merit,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of the CPA. Upon import, “CBP receives information on the identity of the shipper, the tariff line (HTS number) of the imported merchandise, its country of origin, and not much else,” he said. “For CBP to consider a regional-WRO, the agency would have to develop a new filter for the tens of millions of import entries it processes each year.”

The company-specific WRO approach that is more often used by CBP is also not appropriate for dealing with China's treatment of Uighurs. As recently mentioned to the Government Accountability Office, CBP lacks the staff and resources to continually monitor how effective the WROs have been (see 2010270045). Such WROs amount to a “meritless approach to stopping multinational corporations from profiting off of forced labor,” Stumo said.

A group of other trade associations also addressed the issue in a Nov. 6 letter to the senators. The associations, including the U.S. Council for International Business, the National Retail Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said member companies continue to work hard to address the issues and forced labor concerns in their sourcing strategies. “However, the situation in this region is of a scale, scope, and complexity -- coupled with a lack of transparency -- that is unprecedented in modern supply chains and goes beyond the capability of our members to fight this alone,” the trade groups said.

A broader effort led by the U.S. government and involving a global approach may be necessary, the associations said. “Marshalling the collective might of all stakeholders will be the most effective and only way of achieving our shared goal -- ending forced labor practices and the larger campaign of oppression in the region,” they said.