ICYMI: House Passes Bill to Strengthen Enforcement of CCP Trade Crimes

Yesterday, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Protecting American Industry from International Trade Crimes Act, a bill introduced by Select Committee member Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) alongside Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).

Companies based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) frequently commit crimes violating U.S. trade laws including fraud, duty evasion, and transshipment which benefit the PRC’s non-market economy and undermine U.S. companies and workers. Countless Americans have lost their jobs due to this criminal activity. Despite the large volume of trade crime-related cases, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has under-resourced its prosecution of these crimes. 

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

Chairman Moolenaar spoke on the House floor before the bill's passage:

I rise today in support of Congresswoman Hinson’s bill, the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act.

Today, Chinese companies habitually violate U.S. trade laws. They go around our country’s tariffs and this harms U.S. manufacturers, undermines workers, and diminishes American competitiveness.

Last August, during a roundtable in Wisconsin, the Select Committee on the CCP heard from Americans across industries on how Chinese companies are breaking the law and decimating their operations. It is clear from these testimonies that the civil penalties being imposed on the rare company caught circumventing U.S. trade laws were not enough to stop CCP-sponsored trade fraud.

Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi, Congresswoman Hinson, and the bipartisan members of the Select Committee recommended last year that Congress pass legislation to criminally enforce trade crimes as a true deterrent to the CCP’s coordinated economic coercion.

Today’s legislation takes that recommendation and turns it into action.. We’ve solicited feedback from industry, worked closely with the Department of Justice, and coordinated with the standing committees here in the House to develop this robust legislation before us today.

As the House considers this bill, I am committed to working with my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to ensure the prosecutors hired to criminally enforce our trade laws are fully funded. In the face of China’s economic onslaught against our country, we must ensure these prosecutors have the resources they need to enforce tariffs, protect American workers, and stop the CCP from taking advantage of the United States.

Thank you again to Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi and Representative Hinson for their leadership and for working with my team on this key bill.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and support American manufacturing. Thank you, and I yield back.

How The Bill Works:

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 offenses 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 utilization.

Click HERE to read bill text.