The president of the National Council of Textile Organisations (NCTO), Kim Glas, has applauded a new law aimed at combatting international trade crimes and fraud.

The “Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act,” is a bill that aims to combat trade fraud and hold those committing the crimes accountable.

The bill was introduced by chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), alongside congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorth, and openly aims at the “harm” caused to US companies at the hands of companies based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) which, it says, “frequently commit crimes violating US trade laws including fraud, duty evasion, and transhipment which benefit the PRC’s non-market economy and undermine US companies and workers.”

The legislation aims to combat these crimes by directing the DOJ to establish a new structure dedicated to prosecuting international trade crimes. This will enhance US capabilities for detecting, investigating, and prosecuting trade fraud, duty evasion, transhipment and other trade-related crimes. 

The Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act:

• Establishes a new task force or similar structure within the DOJ’s Criminal Division to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes
• Enhances nationwide responses to trade-related offences by providing training and technical assistance to other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, expanding investigations and prosecutions, and allowing for parallel criminal and civil enforcement actions
• Requires the Attorney General to submit an annual report to Congress assessing the DOJ’s efforts, statistics on trade-related crimes, and fund utilisation
• Authorises $20,000,000 for FY 2025 to support these efforts with appropriate guardrails.

Campaign for Uyghurs said the legislation goes a step further than the UFLPA which has set a “strong precedent to prevent the American market from being tainted by forced labour,” by holding violators accountable and closing accountability gaps in the current system.

“Campaign for Uyghurs urges the swift passage of this critical legislation, which centres transparency in actions taken to ensure the American market is protected from trade crimes.”

NCTO president Glas said the law will “put real teeth into combatting trade crimes that are undermining American textile and apparel manufacturers.”

“NCTO has called for additional federal tools and resources to urgently address the pervasive trade crimes impacting our industry as well as other US manufacturing sectors. We are pleased that this legislation will do exactly that by establishing a formal structure within the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division dedicated to aggressively prosecute international trade crimes.

“The US textile and apparel supply chain has been severely harmed by rampant trade fraud, including an onslaught of imported products made with forced labour, which circumvents the US ban on these imports, fraudulent rules of origin claims under our free trade agreements, and evasion of duties through abuse of the de minimis trade loophole. This had resulted in the closure of 18 textile plants over the past several months and job losses, combined with closures in Western Hemisphere trade partners who have suffered tens of thousands of job losses.

“We believe this bipartisan legislation is a critical step forward in confronting such massive fraud and will serve to hold bad actors accountable and help shield our vital domestic industries from these crimes.”

By Just Style