Lawmakers Seek Probe of Chinese Seafood Firms Over Forced Labor
A group of 12 members of the House Ways and Means Committee has urged the Biden administration to investigate allegations that at least six Chinese fishing companies that supply U.S. markets employ Uyghur forced labor.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
In a Feb. 20 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller, the lawmakers wrote that addressing forced labor in China’s seafood industry would complement multilateral efforts to counter unfair practices in the global fishing sector in the run-up to the World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference Feb. 26-29 in Abu Dhabi (see 2402070062).
In the face of “mounting evidence” of forced labor, including an investigation by the nonprofit Outlaw Ocean Project (see 2401110068), sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act might be warranted against the Chinese companies, the letter says. The letter also calls on CBP to consider using its authorities under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to block the companies’ products from entering the U.S.
The letter, which was led by Reps. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Michelle Steel, R-Calif., says the companies include Yantai Sanko Fisheries, Yantai Longwin Foods, the Chishan Group, Shandong Meijia Group, Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs, and the Rongsense Group.
The State Department, USTR and CBP didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said in a statement that "the allegation of ‘forced labor’ is nothing but a lie concocted by the U.S. side in an attempt to wantonly suppress Chinese enterprises. China firmly opposes such political manipulation, and calls on the U.S. side to respect the basic facts and stop making unfounded accusations against China.”
The Panetta-Steel letter came four days after a group of 11 House members on Feb. 16 sent a letter to the State and Treasury departments calling for sanctions against a similar list of Chinese companies (see 2402200078).