The International Trade Commission sent its final report on miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) petitions to Congress on Aug. 8, the ITC said. In the report sent to the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees, the ITC classified 1,825 petitions as meeting MTB statutory requirements with or without modification, 54 petitions as not containing information required by the statute or that weren’t filed by a likely beneficiary, and 645 petitions as not recommended for inclusion in an MTB. The largest product categories were chemicals, accounting for 1,464 petitions; machinery and equipment, accounting for 457 petitions; and textiles, apparel and footwear, accounting for 456 petitions, the ITC said.

While the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act’s elimination of the “consumptive demand” loophole for child and forced labor imports has helped slow the flow of such goods, "the Chinese government continues to use forced labor to produce exports destined for the United States, in violation of U.S. law and bilateral trade agreements," according to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Visibility within China remains an issue, it said. No ICE agents have been allowed to make site visits in China since 2009 and there's indication "forced labor continues to occur at these sites but under a different penal framework," the report says.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bill:

The Senate used an expedited approval procedure on Aug. 3 to approve several trade-related nominations. Approved nominations include Mira Ricardel to be under secretary of commerce for export administration, Richard Ashooh to be assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, Vishal Amin to be White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator, Robert Wood Johnson IV to be U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Kelly Kraft to be U.S. ambassador to Canada.

The Agriculture Department should be consistent with international standards and consider rural residents, the elderly and consumers without smartphones in crafting genetically modified organism disclosure standards, 22 House Democrats said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Legislation signed into law in July 2016 requires USDA to develop a standard by July 29, 2018, to disclose the presence of GMO ingredients in food via printed text, symbol or digital link, including a digitally scannable “QR” code. “We expect USDA's mandatory GMO disclosure standard to apply to all GMO foods, including foods which contain ingredients like highly refined sugars and oils, as well as foods produced with new genetic engineering techniques,” says the letter led by Rep. Pete DeFazio of Oregon. “The standard should require that GMO disclosures be consistent with those of our international trading partners, provide ingredient-level information, and be a presence claim, not a ‘may contain’ claim.”

Thirteen Senate Democrats in an Aug. 4 letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb expressed displeasure about his agency’s decision to delay by five years the implementation of rules that will deem e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe tobacco subject to FDA’s tobacco regulations. The “deeming rule” was originally set to take effect on May 10, before the FDA delayed the deadline by three months (see 1705120035). Under revised timelines announced July 28, the FDA will accept applications for newly regulated combustible products like cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah tobacco through Aug. 8, 2021, as well as applications for non-combustible products such as “electronic nicotine delivery systems” and e-cigarettes through Aug. 8, 2022.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills:

Four Republican senators on Aug. 3 introduced legislation containing language similar to a bill introduced July 28 in the House that would require port of entry modernization (see 1707310026). Introduced by Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the “Building America’s Trust Act” would require modernization of the top 10 high-volume ports of entry, including expanding primary and secondary inspection lanes. Both bills would require completion of modernization by Sept. 30, 2021.

Four Senate Democrats sent a letter to 16 retailers urging cancelation of contracts with port trucking companies believed to treat workers poorly. Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California cited a June 16 report in USA Today as the basis for their plea for retailers to ensure that only companies in compliance with federal and state labor laws transport their goods. “We were disappointed to learn that some companies have reportedly helped perpetuate these abuses by turning a blind eye to labor violations and worker mistreatment occurring at port trucking companies they contract with,” the senators said. The letter went to Target, Hewlett Packard, Home Depot, Hasbro, J. Crew, UPS, Goodyear, Costco, Ralph Lauren, TJX, LG Electronics, JC Penney, Steve Madden, Neiman Marcus, Walmart and Amazon. “As a major U.S. corporation, you also have a role to play in ensuring that you are not complicit in the mistreatment of port truck drivers and that American consumers, your customers, are not unwittingly supporting labor abuses in the United States,” the senators wrote.

Lawmakers recently introduced the following trade-related bills: