US importers to face ‘crazy hard’ hurdles once bill targeting Xinjiang forced labour becomes law
- Importers will have to prove to the US government that no forced labour was used to produce their goods once President Joe Biden signs the law
- ‘It’s hard to prove the negative,’ said one trade lawyer
For more than a year, businesses and rights groups in the US watched anxiously as the Uygur Forced Labor Prevention Act moved through Congress in fits and starts, wondering if legislative gridlock would ultimately sink a popular, bipartisan bill.
That all changed this week.
The US companies that imported more than US$430 billion worth of goods from China last year will now turn their attention from Congress to America’s customs agency, which will have 180 days to come up with a plan to enforce the new law.
Former customs officials and trade lawyers who spoke to the South China Morning Post say the law’s actual strength will come down to how aggressively US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ends up enforcing it.
“CBP will always be ready to handle it,” said Ana Hinojosa, a former executive director for trade remedy law enforcement at the customs agency. “The issue is, will it be prepared to handle it to the full extent?”