The high-profile House Select Committee on China is recommending that the de minimis threshold of $800 be reduced "with particular focus on foreign adversaries including the PRC."

Eighteen months after a senator launched a discussion draft on customs modernization (see 2111030035), the House Ways and Means Committee is beginning its examination of how to shape a bill to update CBP's authorities.

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Importers doing due diligence on their Chinese suppliers to make sure they don’t run afoul of forced labor prohibitions need to stick with the “nuts and bolts” of supply chain information, rather than explaining why it’s needed or asking for certifications that the suppliers comply with U.S. law, both of which could be illegal under Chinese law, Virginia Newman of Miller & Chevalier said during a recent webinar.

An International Trade Commission study of foreign-trade zones, and how U.S. policy supports or undermines their effectiveness, gave some support for the argument free trade zone advocates have made about using FTZs as a staging area for de minimis shipments, but suggested that complaints about treatment under USMCA were overblown.

Although experts gathered to talk about what legislative initiatives a House select committee on China might recommend, and they did that, they couldn't resist speculating about what the Biden administration will do to confront China's broken promises to liberalize and open up. The program, organized by the Washington International Trade Association, was held May 19.

CBP's upcoming regulatory changes around de minimis shipments will combine the best of the Section 321 data pilot and the best of the entry type 86 test, adding together "clearance speed of the entry type 86," CBP's E-Commerce and Small Business Branch Chief Christine Hogue said on a May 18 webinar discussion hosted by the World Trade Center Miami.

Former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer, who got the most attention from members of a House select committee at a lengthy hearing on Chinese economic aggression, argued that the actions President Donald Trump took to discourage imports from China were not nearly enough, and that even removing China from most favored nation status would not be enough to protect American manufacturers from China's predation, because some of the Column 2 tariffs, such as those on cars, are not high enough. Ending China's MFN status "would be one of the greatest things you could possibly do for American manufacturing," he declared.

CBP’s approach to enforcing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act has been “especially damaging” to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) forced to confront “nearly impossible” supply chain documentation requirements and that lack the ability to easily restructure their supply chains, a customs lawyer said in a recent post on the China Law Blog.

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.