International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller must respond to allegations of forced labor used in imported cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire by seven major chocolate companies, the International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) said in its Aug. 15 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The suit aims to force DHS and CBP to issue a decision in response to a 2020 petition filed by IRAdvocates along with Corporate Accountability Lab, and the University of California Irvine Law School's Human Rights Clinic (UCI) (International Rights Advocates v. Alejandro Mayorkas and Troy Miller, CIT # 23-00165).
First Solar, a U.S.-based solar panel manufacturer, said a third-party audit found that its factories in Malaysia had workers who were victims of forced labor. The company disclosed the finding in its 2023 sustainability report, adding that some of its migrant employees were "subjected to unethical recruitment," passport retention practices and "unlawful retention of wages."
The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating the Mediterranean Shipping Company for violating U.S. shipping regulations, including by using “overbroad” merchant clauses in its bills of lading, mishandling fees and failing to publish tariff rates. The agency may fine MSC if it determines the carrier violated the Shipping Act.
A bipartisan duo introduced a bill in the House that would not allow future Section 232 tariffs or quotas without congressional approval, and would give Congress the ability to end the current steel and aluminum tariffs and quotas.
Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Alicia Bárcena, on her first trip to Washington, put USMCA first in her list of priorities, saying that in the less than 14 months left in the administration she is part of, she wants "to be able to bring certainty" in the NAFTA replacement, and to engage across all three countries in various sectors. "It's very important to consolidate this very important economic framework, and to make sure even if we are leaving in 13 months that this can remain as a powerful ... mechanism of trade and investment and economic development and partnership," she said at the Atlantic Council Aug. 10.
Regulatory agencies involved in trade again added relatively few new rulemakings to their regulatory agendas for spring 2023, but FDA, the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the State Department all included new proposed rules or moved forward existing rulemakings that could affect imports.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said he intends to co-sponsor a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and said he believes the appetite in Congress is "strong" to act before the summer of 2025. AGOA expires Sept. 30, 2025.
U.S. carrier Network Shipping Ltd. (NWS) violated U.S. shipping regulations when it failed to provide chassis for certain shipments and instead unfairly provided those chassis to its parent company, a produce distributor, multiple produce importers and exporters said in an August complaint to the Federal Maritime Commission. The companies said they suffered $2 million in damages and costs "in connection with dumping, inspection, transportation, and lost sales of the perished cargo" due to NWS' actions, the report said.