March 2, 2016
David Abramowitz, Vice President for Policy & Government Relations, authored an op-ed piece that appeared in Thomson Reuters over the weekend. In it he discusses the elimination of a “consumptive demand” import loophole, which allowed goods made with forced labor to enter the U.S. marketplace for more than 80 years.
Many years of advocacy recently paid off, however, when President Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act, eliminating the odious exception. This is inspiring news for all who believe U.S. markets should not be open to goods made with modern slavery, and for those who want to press governments and companies to do more to end forced labour abroad. Finally, after 85 years of ineffectual enforcement, the U.S. Government has the leverage to implement this law in a way that will actually foster real change.