Automakers and their suppliers are telling the Biden administration in comments submitted ahead of an upcoming report that not having a form for certificate of origin has paradoxically made compliance more difficult. They also said that companies are having a difficult time certifying how much workers in the supply chain earn, and that the absence of final USMCA regulations are all problems for trade compliance in the more than three years since USMCA took effect.
As Josh Kagan leaves as assistant U.S. trade representative for labor, USTR Katherine Tai announced that Katy Mastman will replace him in an acting capacity. Tai said, "Josh’s leadership has been instrumental in our successful use of the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism and work to eradicate forced labor in supply chains."
U.S. companies can temporarily import certain controlled firearms they previously exported to Ukraine in order to service or repair them, the Bureau of Industry and Security clarified as part of a broader Russia-related final rule released Jan. 23. BIS said those firearms can be temporarily imported under License Exception RPL (Replacement of Parts and Equipment) as long as they were originally exported under a BIS license.
Elizabeth Cannon, former global trade counsel with Microsoft, has joined the Bureau of Industry and Security as the executive director of the agency’s Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services, a BIS spokesperson said. That office is responsible for implementing certain prohibitions on information and communications technology and services transactions, restrictions on foreign access to certain U.S. sensitive data, and more. Cannon’s first day was Jan. 22.
The Federal Maritime Commission will host a public hearing Feb. 7 to look at how conditions in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are "impacting commercial shipping and global supply chains," the commission said Jan. 12. The FMC said the hearing will allow the shipping industry to share with the commission "how operations have been disrupted by attacks on commercial shipping emanating" from Houthi rebels in Yemen (see 2312200045).
The government is considering adding seafood to its list of priority enforcement targets, joining cotton, polysilicon and tomatoes, according to testimony at a House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight hearing.
Sayari, a risk compliance analysis firm, announced that the Bureau of International Labor Affairs has signed a contract to use Sayari Graph to uncover forced labor ties in supply chains.