ACMA Alerts Government to Chinese Carbon Fiber Market & Forced Labor Concerns, Highlights Four Steps
In a letter to several federal agencies, ACMA’s President & CEO, Cindy L. Squires, Esq. alerted the Biden Administration to publicly available information that China’s growing carbon fiber supply chain includes manufacturing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Administrative Region (XUAR) and asked the administration to work with ACMA to address this issue. This controversial region has seen significant use of forced labor and current U.S. law assumes goods manufactured in that region benefit from forced labor, unless positively disproven by the importer.
In the letter, Squires asked the administration to take the following steps:
- Support Domestic Manufacturing: Ensure domestic content is used whenever possible, in line with Inflation Reduction Act and Build America, Buy America provisions, where applicable.
- Investigate the role of the Xinjiang Uyghur Administrative Region in the Chinese carbon fiber industry.
- Review and Revise Tariff Classifications: Work with relevant agencies and industry to improve tariff classifications to provide more detailed information on the quality and grade of carbon fiber imports. This would allow for a more accurate assessment of the impact of imported carbon fiber on U.S. manufacturing.
- Investigate the use of Chinese Carbon Fiber Inputs in Mexican Manufacturing: Examine the impact of Chinese carbon fiber inputs being used in Mexico, particularly in the wind energy market, and whether this practice is undermining U.S. manufacturing through indirect competition.
Please contact ACMA’s Vice President of Government Relations Dan Neumann with questions.