Jon Huntsman Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to China and Russia, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the current administration has not found a strategy on how to deal with China's economic abuses. He said intellectual property theft has grown to a trillion-dollar problem, and there's a need to address the distortions caused by Chinese industrial subsidies and state-owned enterprises. "If we don't define that agenda, nobody else will," Huntsman said.

TV imports to the U.S. in all screen sizes from all countries nudged 1.5% higher year over year in the seasonally weak first quarter, reaching 9.77 million sets, commanding an average customs value of $330.66, according to Customs data retrieved May 8 through the International Trade Commission’s DataWeb portal. Q1 shipments fell 24.5% sequentially from Q4, and their average value trended 6.5% lower, evidence of the sustained decline in LCD panel prices that began late last summer.

Cargill confirmed its suspension of purchases of palm oil from Sime Darby Plantation following CBP's forced labor finding on Sime Darby's palm oil goods (see 2204180015). After CBP issued the finding, Cargill "urged Sime Darby Plantation Berhad to provide information on how they have addressed the CBP forced labor allegations," Cargill said in an email. "Sime Darby Plantation Berhad has not yet come forward with sufficient information that enables Cargill to assess if the actions Sime Darby Plantation Berhad is taking meet the requirements set out in Cargill’s Policy on Sustainable Palm Oil. Therefore, Cargill has decided to suspend all new sourcing of palm oil and derivative products from Sime Darby Planation Berhad." It said it will review its decision when more information becomes available.

A withhold release order on Chinese polysilicon remains the major concern for the U.S. solar industry, despite recently opened anti-circumvention inquiries that could result in the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on solar modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and CBP’s implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, according to a market research report released by BofA Securities March 29.

Shipping equipment companies Cargotec and Konecranes ditched their bid to make a merger of equals one day after DOJ told them that their settlement proposal was insufficient to address important competition concerns in four areas of shipping container handling equipment used by port customers to move goods, DOJ said March 29. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority also blocked the transaction. Cargotec and Konecranes both provide container handling equipment services to port terminals across the globe. In October 2020, the firms announced their intent to combine under a $5 billion deal. Following an Antitrust Division investigation, DOJ said that the transaction "would have eliminated intense competition" between the two rival companies in already highly concentrated markets. CMA found that British customers would have few remaining alternative suppliers if the companies combined.

A study sponsored by the American Apparel and Footwear Association said 17 of 47 products didn't comply with U.S. product safety standards, and some had dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium or phthalates, a type of plastic.

The U.S. Fashion Industry Association said it is pleased that Uzbekistan has eliminated systemic forced labor from cotton production, and noted that the Cotton Campaign, a coalition of apparel companies, nonprofit organizations and Uzbek civil society activists announced March 10 that they no longer support a global boycott of Uzbek cotton. "We encourage brands and retailers to take a fresh look at sourcing opportunities in Uzbekistan and to work with the Cotton Campaign to maintain responsible sourcing and robust due diligence in Uzbekistan," USFIA said. "We also encourage the Government of Uzbekistan to make further progress in establishing the enabling environment for responsible sourcing -- including the registration of NGOs working to monitor cotton harvests -- in order to address remaining risks to labor and human rights and to assure brands that they can source from Uzbekistan with confidence."

Sheffield Hallam University professor of human rights and contemporary slavery Laura Murphy said CBP needs much more funding to enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, because she does not think companies will cut their ties immediately to China's Xinjiang province as a result of the new law. Murphy, who was interviewed by Hudson Institute senior fellow Nury Turkel on March 9, said she has not yet found a company with production in Xinjiang that can provide clear evidence that it does not employ Uyghur workers who were coerced into taking their jobs.

A new Canadian approach to dairy tariff rate quotas, which still sharply limits the retail sale of imports, drew fire from three U.S. dairy trade groups.

A trade lawyer who has represented steel companies in trade remedy cases said that he is concerned that the proposed green standards for steel will not be as effective in preserving the American steel industry's market-based foundation, because foreign firms will subsidize overcapacity in the name of shifting from higher carbon-intensity mills to more environmentally friendly ones. Alan Price, who chairs Wiley Rein's trade practice, was one of three panelists on a Feb. 24 Washington International Trade Association webinar on "Fair and Clean Trade in Steel and Aluminum."