The Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole launched today, representing thousands of voices, from the families of victims of fentanyl fatalities and nonprofit and nonpartisan organizations to labor unions, domestic law enforcement associations, domestic manufacturers, and business associations.
America’s largest generic drug supplier, Aurobindo, is riddled with safety and quality issues, including ties to overseas suppliers with links to China’s military.
The roughly 485 million packages that come into the U.S. duty free via the de minimis loophole is “overwhelming” and that volume “makes it harder for us to police products for consumer safety,” James Joholske, director of the office of import surveillance at the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission (CPSC) told the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission on March 1
According to expert testimony given by the witnesses, the crisis is being fueled by poor manufacturing practices that have led to recalls by foreign drug manufacturers, and the race to the bottom on generic drug prices that make it impossible for American generic drug makers to compete with subsidized competitors in India and China.
CPA’s report exposes that “Aurobindo does business with at least four suppliers that have ties to organizations under US sanctions for their connections to China’s military industry.”
The Biden administration must take swift action to close this loophole, it should issue nationwide withhold release order on all Chinese textiles, and Congress should pass legislation immediately.
Background De minimis is a regulatory loophole. It was morphed from a tiny customs administrative exception into a backdoor superhighway through our ports. The regulatory changes to de minimis enabled overseas vendors around the world to ship directly to American citizens, currently to the tune of two million per day. And they do this without…
Companies continue to invest in domestic solar thanks to all the new renewable energy tax credits. Without them, and tariffs, US solar would be China owned.
The U.S. is increasingly reliant on imported drugs from uninspected labs. It’s not safe. What can be done about it?
Notes from the recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on China. What the No. 2 at State said about China and U.S. supply chain risk.
