Timing of any potential order is uncertain. While some industry lobbyists have expected action for weeks, congressional sources say they have not yet been briefed on any imminent moves from CBP, a typical agency courtesy before major actions.
Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee called on the Biden administration last week to block imports of Chinese solar panels and other products that contain polysilicon made with forced labor in Xinjiang. They said that in a briefing earlier this year with congressional offices, CBP asserted that enforcement actions regarding polysilicon were forthcoming — but CBP has not yet taken any such step.
“There’s a bit of frustration that with as bad as the world now understands things to be in Xinjiang and the effect that it’s having, not only from a human rights standpoint but economic impact, we feel like there’s plenty of information that gives them what they need to act,” said Kildee, who led the letter alongside Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.).
The Democrats say there is “overwhelming evidence” of the use of forced labor in polysilicon production that exceeds the standard for action under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibits the importation of merchandise mined, produced or manufactured in any country by forced or indentured labor.
“I understand sometimes it takes time for Customs to investigate and make a determination,” said Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has separately pressed the issue in the Senate. “Supply chain issues can be incredibly complicated, and in some instances it’s hard to get reliable information, particularly if you’re talking about Xinjiang, [where] their information is tightly controlled. But aggressive, unrelenting enforcement is, to me, the prescription for this.”
Biden and fellow G7 nations vaulted the issue into focus at the recent summit when countries signed onto a carefully worded joint communiqué that called on China “to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially in relation to Xinjiang.” It did not lay out any specific action for the U.S., nor did it specifically link Xinjiang to the concerns of forced labor in the solar supply.
“The basic notion in the communiqué was [to] call out Xinjiang in terms of its human rights abuses and then establish a neutral principle that all democracies can stand behind,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently said aboard Air Force One. “We are going to take concrete action and countermeasures against forced labor in these areas, and when you actually apply that in practice, that will have an impact on Xinjiang.”
But some in the industry are skeptical of how effective a WRO would be in eradicating forced labor in the complex solar supply chain given limited visibility into China’s activities.
“That [WRO] cannot be the only mechanism because that’s a slender reed on which we’re hanging all of our enforcement efforts,” one trade association official said. “That’s not the strong international mechanism that we need to send a message to China that this is unacceptable.”
CBP’s enforcement strategy for any upcoming trade ban is not yet clear. But in the case of the Xinjiang cotton ban, the agency has taken a hard line, forcing companies that import cotton products from China to trace their fibers all the way back through growth and processing. If companies cannot prove their fibers are not from Xinjiang, Customs seizes the shipment.
