The Climate Leadership Council is establishing a Center for Climate and Trade, which will have three co-chairs: former U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky, who held that position during the Clinton administration; President George W. Bush's former chair for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, James Connaughton; and Jennifer Hillman, former commissioner at the U.S. International Trade Commission and former member of the World Trade Organization Appellate Body.
Descartes Systems Group bought NetCHB for $40 million, "plus potential performance-based consideration," the companies said Feb. 10. NetCHB, headquartered in Arizona, helps in automating customs broker filings, including for Section 321 Type 86 entries, Descartes said. "The maximum amount payable under the all-cash performance-based earn-out is $60.0 million, based on NetCHB achieving revenue-based targets over the first two years post-acquisition," it said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable said Feb. 10 the business community is trying to find workarounds to the blockade at the Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge and other Canadian border crossings, "but we are already seeing some production cuts, shift reductions, and temporary plant closures. The North American economy relies on our ability to work closely together, including our manufacturing sectors. We need to apply the same spirit of cooperation to tackle this problem.
The American Apparel and Footwear Association, after the government Consumer Price Index for January showed apparel prices up 5.1% and footwear prices 6.1% higher compared with January 2021, is arguing for an "immediate elimination and refund of punitive Section 301 tariffs on U.S. imports from China." CEO Steve Lamar asked the Biden administration Feb. 10 "to pursue swift and effective policies to immediately alleviate the increasingly overwhelming costs on companies and address the shipping crisis," and to get involved with the port labor negotiations for West Coast ports. That contract expires this summer.
Panelists at a Washington International Trade Association conference Feb. 2 said they're not sure when the supply chain crisis will ease, noting the U.S. brought a record number of containers into the country last year. Jonathan Gold, the National Retail Federation's vice president for supply chains, said he expects the amount to be even higher in 2022.
A consulting firm hired by the National Council of Textile Organizations published an analysis that says that adding cumulation provisions and altering the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement's short supply mechanism would destabilize Central America by destroying more than 247,000 jobs in apparel. "U.S. textile manufacturing and employment will be devastated through the loss of billions of dollars in exports to the CAFTA-DR region, and the loss of over 307,000 jobs in the short to medium term," the Werner International report said.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials that lead the group's international policy initiatives said again that the U.S. is wasting an opportunity by letting trade negotiations stall. The vice presidents in charge of Africa, Europe, the Western Hemisphere and Asia policy spoke on a Jan. 18 webinar that was a follow-up to the State of American Business program.
In its annual State of American Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chose to emphasize the need to double the level of legal immigration, its opposition to Build Back Better legislation and what it sees as overly aggressive antitrust enforcement over the need to remove tariffs on hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Chinese imports. Three years ago, the Chamber was arguing that the tariffs needed to go (see 1901100007), but last year, admitted it was not politically feasible as it laid out its trade agenda (see 2101130057).
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Intel was wrong to remove a phrase from its supplier letters that told them they should not source goods or labor from China's Xinjiang province. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act says that any goods made with Uyghur labor outside Xinjiang, or made in Xinjiang, would be presumed to be made with forced labor, and therefore barred from entry into the U.S. CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said, "Once again, an American corporation has showed extreme cowardice by bowing to the sensitivities of the Chinese Communist Party, which is perpetrating a genocide against Uyghur Muslims. By removing language that explicitly prohibits the sourcing of goods from the Uyghur region of China, Intel is enabling the Chinese governments' efforts to profit from forced labor and bully the world into silence."
Imports through the major U.S. retail ports are expected to return to normal growth rates in 2022, but volumes will remain high after a year of “unprecedented increases,” the National Retail Federation reported Jan. 7. In November, U.S. ports handled 2.1 million 20-foot-long cargo containers, 4.5% fewer than in October but up 0.5% year over year, the association said. Supply chain challenges continue, even with the holiday selling season in rearview mirrors, said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president-supply chain and customs policy. “The huge increases in imports we’ve seen have leveled out, but volume is still at high levels. We hope the system will find a way to catch up, but there is much that remains to be done to clear out port backlogs and increase capacity throughout the supply chain.” NRF sees the COVID-19 omicron variant as the “wild card” that could drive more imports “if consumers stay home and spend their money on retail goods rather than going out,” Gold said.