The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada have reached a tentative agreement after accepting settlement terms from federal mediators on July 13, according to a tweet from Canadian Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan Jr.
Canada launched investigations of Nike Canada and Dynasty Gold this week after receiving complaints that both companies’ supply chains have ties to forced labor in China. A Canadian agency said it’s probing allegations that Nike has “supply relationships” with Chinese companies that use Uyghur forced labor and that Dynasty Gold, a mining company, benefited from Uyghur forced labor at a Chinese mine in which it had a majority stake.
ACE 2.0 and the 21st Century Customs Framework are "absolutely key" to moving forward with CBP's Green Trade Strategy "with the urgency that is required as we globally fight climate change," CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner AnnMarie Highsmith said at a July 12 press conference. Highsmith said both initiatives will allow for improved traceability to aid sustainability efforts and, alongside improved CBP cargo processing at ports, help move goods more quickly across the border.
Advocates for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, watching the lengthy expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, continue to say that renewal in 2023 rather than 2024 is necessary to retain manufacturing contracts, because businesses don't want to wait to see if the program continues in October 2025.
Homeland Security Undersecretary Robert Silvers, who chairs the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force that maintains UFLPA's entity list, told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that FLETF has an "active pipeline of referrals we are examining, and we anticipate more additions in coming months."
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.
A street mounted docking station for electronic bikes and scooters is correctly classified as a vending machine, according to a recently released CBP ruling. The ruling concerns the Monolith Docking station, which its importer, Lyft, described as a street mounted locking platform for the securing and dispensing of E-bikes or E-scooters. The station has the ability to electronically transmit operational information such as bike availability to remote servers running operations programs.
Motor control boards and electronic speed controllers designed for use in remote-controlled vehicles are "electrical transformers," not toy parts or boards equipped with electric control devices, CBP said in a recently released ruling. The agency found the remote-controlled vehicles that incorporate the control boards and speed controllers are more advanced than toys and are instead for experienced pilots.
The lack of disclosure in Enforce and Protect Act evasion proceedings and the deferential standard of review "stack the deck" in favor of the alleger, giving importers "a lot to complain about in the EAPA process," customs lawyer Larry Friedman of Barnes/Richardson said in a July 6 blog post. Even importers who believe they have conducted reasonable due diligence may have serious unexpected liabilities that come out during the investigation, he said.
Sixteen trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, PhRMA and BIO, asked U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to press Mexico to comply with its USMCA commitments during her trip to Mexico for the Free Trade Commission meeting.