CBP Acting Commissioner Highlights Textile Enforcement
PHILADELPHIA -- Troy Miller, acting CBP commissioner, said that since stakeholders have said they're concerned that de minimis and trade cheating in USMCA and the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement is damaging the domestic and Latin American textile and apparel industries, the department will release a comprehensive plan to intensify enforcement soon.
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"We are taking these issues very seriously. We are committed to ensuring that textile and apparel imports fully comply with applicable laws, regulations, quotas, free trade agreements and other preference programs to promote a fair and level playing field for the U.S. industry," Miller said in opening remarks at the CBP Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit.
Miller noted that, in February, CBP undertook a textile verification trip to Mexico, and visited 31 factories.
Miller also said that the data on de minimis shipments "can sometimes be vague and inaccurate," but that CBP believes once Congress passes a 21st Century Customs bill and a rulemaking expected to implement mandatory data submissions for de minimis and informal entries is complete, that will improve.
"We are prioritizing and operationalizing many of the recommendations made by the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee de minimis working group," he said, without waiting for those developments. He said that legislative proposals from DHS are in the interagency review process, and that the de minimis regulatory package has not yet begun the interagency review process.
"CBP can't fix de minimis alone, we all have a shared responsibility of securing the supply chain, we need your support," he said.