[CTC] Groups press Trump to stop imports containing Xinjiang cotton

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Politico Morning Trade

— U.S. apparel groups are bracing for a Trump administration decision as early as this week that could block the importation of Chinese-made textile and apparel products on the grounds that they are the products of forced labor in the Uighur region of China.

CBP COULD TAKE ACTION AGAINST XINJIANG COTTON PRODUCTS <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c3e4fbe96c8f56c88fe224d8a16c1ac4420af360b6d55860aa9adc1017eef440349e6883882086fe63811593d8d10ed>: In a new petition filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection,  <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c3e4fbe96c8f56c479bc2fdd8cb4a0115986bb6fcb4dfa148f3170742348f0bb31a395b611286db92269feabbbf68d2>the AFL-CIO and allied groups pushed for a regional “withhold release order” on cotton and cotton-containing products from Xinjiang, which they said would force China to choose “between continuing the persecution of the Uighur people or face the exodus of billions of dollars in business contracts and investments from U.S. companies and others.”

But apparel industry groups already have been increasingly concerned about the potential for CBP to take action, even before the new petition was filed. “I would say most companies and trade associations paying attention to this issue have known that [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] could issue an order like this since probably late 2018,” John Foote, a trade attorney at Baker McKenzie who has been tracking the issue, said in an email.

A withhold release order, or WRO, is not an actual import ban. But goods subject to a WRO have to be re-exported or destroyed if CBP determines they were made with forced labor.

A regional WRO has the potential to affect tens of billions of dollars of U.S. textile and clothing imports that contain cotton, yarn or fabric produced in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. It also could boomerang back on U.S. cotton producers if Beijing is provoked into retaliation.

Big producer: Xinjiang accounts for 85 percent of Chinese cotton production. The U.S. imported about $50 billion worth of textiles and clothing from China last year, and Uighur cotton, yarn and fabric is used by other countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to make clothing.

Policing that volume of imports would be a massive CBP undertaking, raising questions about whether the agency would take on a project that big or decide on a more targeted approach.

“When a WRO is issued, it takes immediate effect,” Foote said in a Q&A with POLITICO. <https://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2c3e4fbe96c8f56c93d1d82e4545a0ade90acb5f10c1ff86d2b3a5d3e096dc91aad0b75a0f0c9ca67b188bb4ae3649ec> “Shipments in transit will be affected, and many such shipments will be detained. In theory, every shipment of goods described by the WRO should be detained pursuant to the WRO.”


Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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