U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) said on Monday that U.S. officials must do more to stop foreign trade cheats that harm workers in Ohio and elsewhere in the country.
Portman’s remarks followed the release of Customs and Border Patrol’s (CBP) issuing of interim regulations that implement the ENFORCE Act, a law that Portman championed to prevent China and other foreign producers from illegally importing goods.
“We’ve got to do a better job in stopping foreign trade cheats,” Portman said. “It is unfair that American manufacturers and workers who play by the rules have to compete with foreign countries like China that violate our customs duties and illegally import goods. While I am pleased that CBP met its legal deadline for issuing this interim regulation, I am concerned that it does not go far enough to ensure transparency and to promote cooperation with stakeholders. I will continue to closely follow the administration and CBP’s implementation of ENFORCE to ensure that it follows our intent to create a new, transparent enforcement mechanism that quickly and effectively promotes enforcement of our trade remedy laws.”
In June, Portman led a bipartisan call for the Department of Homeland Security and CBP to fully implement provisions of the ENFORCE Act that establish a process for domestic producers to petition CBP to investigate antidumping and countervailing duty evasions. CBP was also given new tools to crack down on trade law violations under the law.
“The ENFORCE Act was necessary because the Obama administration simply wasn’t doing enough to protect our workers, as shown by last week’s Government Accountability Office report that $2.3 billion in anti-dumping and countervailing duties have gone uncollected,” Portman said. “Now that we have given them better tools than ever to do so, the Obama administration must ensure our manufacturers and workers have the level playing field that they deserve.”