U.S. Legislators Call on USMCA Partners to Mirror UFLPA

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Oct. 16, 2024
By: Chaney A. Finn

Importers are surely aware that since June 21, 2022 the United States has presumed that imports containing any items from Xinjiang are presumed to be made with forced labor under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). After all, we discussed it here, here, here, and here. Goods falling under this presumption are prohibited from entering the United States.

Now Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), along with Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and James McGovern (D-MA), the lead sponsors of the UFLPA, are calling on the USMCA parties to institute similar policies domestically. The group sent a Sept. 18 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Canadian Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng and Mexican Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro. In the letter, the members of Congress argued that Canada and Mexico should enact laws that would create a “rebuttable presumption” that goods made in whole or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are made with forced labor and, accordingly, barred from import to the region under USMCA Article 23.6.

The letter reads, “The UFLPA was created as a response to the government of the PRC’s policies of severe repression against Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples, which includes mandating that these people perform involuntary labor, in gross violation of internationally recognized human rights. This horrendous behavior has not abated. The law was also born out of a recognition that an additional enforcement mechanism was needed to ensure that U.S. agencies were able to comply with laws that prohibit import of goods made with forced labor. We hope that the UFLPA can serve as a model for similar legislation in Canada and Mexico so that North America can truly be a region free of goods produced through forced labor.” 

Notably, Canada and Mexico do have bans on goods produced with forced labor (as does the United States separate and apart from UFLPA). The lawmakers have argued that traders could still be circumventing UFLPA via Mexico or Canada and that Mexico and Canada must boost cooperation among their customs authorities. Specifically, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had identified a case involving a shipment of solar panels imported to Canada after being denied entry to the U.S. under UFLPA.

In the letter, the lawmakers added that the “need for cooperation is heightened because most of the goods detained at U.S. ports under the UFLPA have originated not in the PRC, but rather in several Southeast Asian nations.” We have reported on these statistics provided by U.S. CBP where the top offenders of forced labor shipments to the U.S. were from Malaysia, having $1.54 billion worth of merchandise detained, followed by Vietnam ($1.01B), Thailand ($0.5B), China finally ($0.39B), and then India ($42.65M).

Accordingly, the lawmakers say, the countries should “utilize existing information-sharing agreements to stop the transfer of forced labor products as well as identified re-export or transshipment schemes.” This is evident as many importers have had significant difficulty effectively policing, let alone sometimes even identifying their suppliers in today’s complex global supply chains.

The USMCA is scheduled for a trilateral review in 2026 where UFLPA-like provisions could be added  the agreement, as well as other forced labor enforcement and verification provisions in general. Should you have any questions regarding the UFLPA, USMCA, or any other trade-related questions, do not hesitate to contact any attorney at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn, LLP.