The chairman of the House Select Committee on China welcomed a new report from Horizon Advisory that said the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act have spurred investments in advanced battery production and critical minerals recycling, which "carry great promise but they will be for naught if the U.S. does not recognize and counter China's state-backed market dominance and manipulations with additional investments, stronger protective measures, and stringent enforcement mechanisms."
A jury found wholesale clothing importer C'est Toi Jeans and two of its executives guilty of avoiding over $8 million in customs duties on apparel entries, and laundering and failing to report over $17 million in proceeds from cash transactions, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced. The two executives are Si Oh Rhew, president of the company, and his son, Lance Rhew.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Oct. 30, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
CBP issued an Enforce and Protect Act determination, finding BMF Imports evaded antidumping duties by transshipping xanthan gum from China through India, according to a recent agency notice.
DHS has updated its Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List to include textile companies that allegedly use forced labor or source material from the Xinjiang autonomous region in China, and it removed one entity from one category of alleged violations and placed it in another category, according to a Federal Register notice.
DHS is adding more companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, according to a notice released Oct. 31. Esquel Group, also known as Esquel China Holdings Limited; Guangdong Esquel Textile; and Turpan Esquel Textile are being added for sourcing material from Xinjiang or from persons working with the government of Xinjiang or the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps for purposes of China's ‘‘poverty alleviation’’ program or ‘‘pairing-assistance’’ program, among other Chinese government labor schemes. The notice also appears to change the reason an already listed company, Changji Esquel Textile, is on the list, removing the company from one of the four lists that make up the broader UFLPA Entity List but adding it to another. The changes take effect Nov. 1.
Customs brokers must earn a prorated 20 continuing education credits starting Jan. 1, 2025, to maintain their customs licenses, the CBP said in a notice released Oct. 31. The triennial report period ending Jan. 31, 2027, is the first that customs brokers must comply with the new continuing education requirement that CBP published as a final rule in June 2023. The notice also details CBP's criteria used to select qualified accreditors, the list of CBP-selected qualified accreditors and the period of award for these accreditors.
The CBP has finally let customs brokers know how many continuing education (CE) credits they must earn and when they can start earning them so that they can maintain their broker licenses.
Executives from FloraTrace, an isotopic testing service, and Rezylient, an UFLPA insurance product, told an audience of customs brokers that isotopic testing isn't just for cotton-containing products.