Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced seven amendments to the United States Innovation and Competition Act—the Senate’s proposed legislation to increase competitiveness with China—to put American workers first, fight back against Beijing’s trade abuses, stand up for human rights, protect American national security, and crack down on multi-billion-dollar corporations that are heavily invested in China.
“This week, Congress has a chance to begin to correct two decades of failed policies that have allowed China to thrive at the expense of the American heartland. That means putting American workers first, ending corporate reliance on Chinese slave labor, and weaning Wall Street off their dependence on the Chinese Communist Party. That also means holding the CCP accountable for their role in the outbreak of the pandemic in Wuhan. We can’t let this opportunity pass.”
Senator Josh Hawley
Senator Hawley’s amendments would:
- Impose a duty of 100 percent on goods made in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a region notorious for slave labor and other human rights violations;
- Require a label marking clothing, household goods, and other articles imported into the U.S. that originate in countries believed to produce goods made by forced or child labor;
- Prohibit the transfer or licensing of certain intellectual property rights of goods funded by American taxpayers through this bill;
- Require certain businesses to monitor and disclose the use of forced labor in their supply chains (Slave-Free Business Certification Act);
- Require contractors to notify the Department of Defense if certain information systems they provide to DoD contain printed circuit boards from China;
- Impose data security requirements and strengthen review of foreign investments with respect to certain technology companies (National Security And Personal Data Protection Act);
- Require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19 (COVID-19 Origin Act).