CBP's Highsmith Welcomes Senate Pressure on Forced Labor in Auto Supply Chain

CBP officials gave importers most of the credit for the quicker releases from detention when the government has decided there is no nexus to Xinjiang. In an interview in Boston on early implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, AnnMarie Highsmith, executive assistant commissioner of CBP's Office of Trade, said: "Importers are working harder to be prepared before their merchandise hits the water. They're learning their supply chains. They're simplifying their supply chains. I'd love to say it's us, but it's not. The importers are doing a better job."

The interview at CBP's Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit earlier this week also included Eric Choy, executive director of CBP's Trade Remedy and Law Enforcement Directorate. He said when Center of Excellence staffers review the same sorts of products, they start to learn the supply chain patterns. "They do find increased efficiencies over time," he said, but noted the importer's ability to send complete and timely documents is the biggest factor.

All the releases so far under UFLPA have been because the importers showed the supply chain did not include Xinjiang inputs, and therefore the law did not apply. Highsmith said she disagrees with the assertion in a recent letter from senators and representatives (see 2304110034) that CBP must disclose each time the agency finds the UFLPA did not apply to a detained shipment.

The law's text says that goods made, or with inputs made, in Xinjiang or by companies that accept labor transfers of workers from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region can be admitted if the importers show CBP "by clear and convincing evidence" that they contain no inputs made with forced labor. It says those exceptions, when granted, must be disclosed to Congress.

Three importers, with goods from two sectors -- agricultural and pharmaceutical -- have asked for an exception, Choy said. No determinations have been made in those cases.

While the officials said they could not say what proportion of UFLPA detentions have been for products that were already subject to Xinjiang-related withhold release orders -- cotton, solar panels and tomato paste -- they confirmed detentions related to other products flagged by the same researchers who first identified solar panels as a product whose supply chain runs through Xinjiang.

"There are detentions related to PVC," Choy said. PVC is the raw material in luxury vinyl flooring -- Sheffield Hallam University researchers allege that 25% of the flooring sold in the U.S. is made from PVC, with most of that PVC produced in Xinjiang, even when the flooring itself is made in Vietnam or India (see 2206150023)

The university's most recent report (see 2212060054) indicated that Uyghur laborers have been transferred to factories in eastern China that make tires, car seats, windshields, automotive electronics and batteries. It also said steel and aluminum processed in Xinjiang could make its way into vehicles. Choy said no auto parts as such have been detained, but that semifinished metals have been.

The Senate Finance Committee is investigating forced labor in auto parts, as a result of the report, and Highsmith said that could be helpful to CBP. "To the extent it provides us additional information to support enforcement action, that would help us," she said. "All evidence is helpful."

Choy added, "Hopefully, it promotes due diligence in the industry. Certainly, we welcome the pressure from our legislative partners on the industry."

Highsmith said CBP has always maintained that detaining goods isn't enough to end the scourge of forced labor. "We're not going to enforce our way out of this," she said. "We don't want the stuff to come to the United States and clog up the docks, but we also don't want it to be manufactured in the first place."