As the U.S. Senate returns this week for an intense work period, Republicans and Democrats are busy crafting language for a bipartisan infrastructure package that has the potential to be a game-changer. While President Biden continues to tout the positive potential of this bipartisan proposal, the Administration also just imposed a far-reaching Withhold Release Order (WRO) as part of the U.S. Government’s continued efforts to ban imports of products manufactured using forced labor. This action will temporarily impact the importation of critical goods required for U.S. infrastructure development and has the potential to be the largest import ban in American history.
The import ban covers all silica and derivatives of silica products manufactured by Chinese entity Hoshine Silicon Industry, Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries. The range of products containing silica is extensive and includes solar panels and semiconductor chips – the building blocks of renewable energy systems and high-technology products – which are incorporated into television, computer, mobile phone, aerospace, communication, defense equipment, and more. And because Hoshine and its subsidiaries dominate the global supply of silica and products produced from silica, this far-reaching action impacts all segments of the economy and military that use electronic devices. It is surprising, then, that so few have taken the time to fully understand the potentially broad scope of this import ban.
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