Ex-White House stenographer says FBI ignored Biden’s role in son Hunter’s business dealings

 Former Obama White House stenographer Mike McCormick tells The Post that he wants to testify before the federal grand jury in Delaware considering charges against first son Hunter Biden, saying he has relevant information — ignored by the FBI — that implicates President Biden in a foreign influence-peddling “conspiracy.”

“Joe Biden committed crimes in Ukraine in a conspiracy with [current national security adviser] Jake Sullivan,” McCormick said.

“I’m a witness to that happening.”

McCormick visited Ukraine with then-Vice President Biden three times and says that on a 2014 trip, Sullivan — then a Biden national security aide — briefed reporters aboard Air Force Two as an anonymous “senior administration official” about how the US was interested in helping Ukraine’s natural gas industry.

At the time — and unbeknownst to the public — Hunter had joined the board of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma, working with an executive who would later meet with Joe Biden in Washington.

“I think the FBI should investigate it based on an eyewitness report,” McCormick said.

“This happened. Joe Biden was part of this.

“They’ve been looking at Hunter Biden, but this ties Joe Biden and [Sullivan] into promoting a kickback scheme with Ukraine. It’s the timeline that does it.”

McCormick says he was with Sullivan in the press cabin of the vice presidential jet en route to Kyiv on April 21, 2014, as the aide outlined how the world’s wealthiest country would help the deeply corrupt post-Soviet state build its gas industry.

A former White House stenographer told The Post he has information that implicates President Biden in a foreign influence-peddling “conspiracy.”

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Giving a rundown of Biden’s priorities, Sullivan said the then-vice president would “discuss with [Ukrainian officials] medium- and long-term strategies to boost conventional gas production, and also to begin to take advantage of the unconventional gas reserves that are in Ukraine.”

Asked for details by a reporter, the anonymous Biden aide said the US was interested in providing “technical assistance to help [Ukraine] be able to boost production in their conventional gas fields, where presently they aren’t getting the maximum of what they could be” while offering “technical assistance relating to a regulatory framework, and also the technology that would be required to extract unconventional gas resources; and Ukraine has meaningful reserves of unconventional gas according to the latest estimates.”

In December of that year, amid broader Obama administration support for Ukraine, Congress approved $50 million to support the country’s energy sector, including the natural gas industry.

Mike McCormick said he witnessed Biden and aide Jake Sullivan commit crimes on a trip to Ukraine.

Mike McCormick/linkedin

Hunter’s role at Burisma was not disclosed until a May 12, 2014, press release from the company.

A BuzzFeed article, citing company documents filed in Cyprus, said Hunter had joined Burisma on April 18 and emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop include discussions in the run-up to his dad’s visit to the country.

Four days before Sullivan briefed reporters, Burisma paymaster Vadim Pozharskyi emailed Hunter’s business associate Devon Archer, already on the board, that he recognized Hunter Biden could be both an asset and a liability.

“As to the HB I do believe that we have to reach reasonable balance here. I realize fully that his role … is of long term perspective and taking into account the political weight of our Directors we have to ‘use’ their personality carefully and strategically wise, I do realize their vulnerability in this respect,” Pozharskyi wrote in an email recovered from Hunter’s laptop.

“Therefore I kindly suggest to indeed now or after his father left our country just put him on our website without going for public camping [sic].

“And then after we meet in May we agree on joint plan and move forward accordingly, with media campaign or without it, just concentrating on informal talks with relevant interested parties etc. 

“In some sense we cannot ‘hide’ our directors.”

The former stenographer said Sullivan briefed reporters on Air Force Two in 2014 about US involvement in Ukraine’s national gas industry.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File

Pozharskyi added: “Please have a thought about it before tomorrow phone call, it’s just my ideas now as I have not yet talked to [Burisma owner] Nikolay [Zlochevsky]. (we both traveling now and do not use mobile phones for such conversations-)).”

McCormick provided The Post screenshots of an online FBI tip-submission form that he says he completed in February.

He says he never heard back.

“Right now, they are three years into an investigation doing nothing and it seems like they’re stonewalling,” McCormick told The Post.

“I’ll go under oath before anyone who needs to hear the truth about Joe Biden’s criminal activities.”

The FBI and the US attorney’s office in Delaware did not respond to requests for comment.

Lying to the FBI is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma in Ukraine when Sullivan briefed reporters as an anonymous “senior administration official.”

Sullivan’s office did not dispute McCormick’s claim that he was the unnamed “senior administration official” who briefed reporters on the flight to Kyiv, which happened about two months after pro-Western protesters ousted Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych.

A spokesperson for Sullivan referred The Post to another White House spokesperson who did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Attorneys for Hunter Biden also did not respond to inquiries.

The 80-year-old commander-in-chief is reportedly not a focus of the wide-ranging probe into the first son — though at least one witness before the Delaware grand jury was asked about the identity of the “big guy” described in a May 2017 email as due a 10% cut in a Chinese energy venture.

The US attorney’s office in Delaware reportedly is investigating Hunter Biden for possible tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying, money laundering and lying about his drug use on a federal gun-purchase form.

Hunter Biden last year paid about $2 million in back taxes in a bid to avoid prosecution, though doing so does not legally absolve him of the original non-payment.

Hunter Biden is being probed by a federal grand jury in Delaware.

Hunter Biden was paid up to $1 million per year from 2014 through 2019 to serve on Burisma’s board, despite no relevant industry experience, as his dad handled the Obama administration’s Ukraine portfolio.

“Hunter Biden had no credentials to sit on the board of a Ukrainian energy company other than his last name being ‘Biden,'” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading a congressional inquiry into Joe Biden’s role in his relatives’ foreign business ventures.

“The fact that then-Vice President Joe Biden pushed natural gas production in Ukraine days after his son was appointed to the board of Burisma reeks of corruption,” Comer told The Post.

Fourth-ranking House Republican Elise Stefanik (R-NY) added, “House Republicans are leading the charge in shining a light into the corrupt and illegal dealings of the Biden Crime Family.”

“The American people now know that Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings have compromised Joe Biden,” she said.

“The truth is coming out, and I am committed to ensuring that the entire Biden Crime Family is held accountable for compromising our national security.”

McCormick, who worked more than a decade at the White House, says his work has made him familiar with the grand jury proceedings and he believes the new timeline detail demonstrates Joe Biden was using his authority to help his son’s foreign business interests.

“Joe Biden was over there telling them, ‘You can’t be corrupt! You can’t be corrupt!’ while he was corrupt,” McCormick says.

“Look, this is Air Force Two. This is Joe Biden’s plane. He’s in control of it. Jake Sullivan was in the front of the plane with Joe Biden in a meeting and then he walks back in the plane to talk to the press.”

McCormick added that he suspects Hunter and Joe Biden met before the vice president’s trip to Europe and may have discussed the business venture regarding Burisma.

The then-second son emailed Archer a lengthy analysis of Ukraine developments on April 12, 2014, stoking suspicions about whether he somehow gained access to privileged official assessments.

“A grand jury is an investigative tool. So they can go to the Secret Service, and they can subpoena the Secret Service and say, ‘We want to see where Joe Biden was on the 12th. We want to see where Hunter Biden was on the 12th,” McCormick said.

The former stenographer, who also is a book and Substack author, openly acknowledges that he supports the 2024 candidacy of former President Donald Trump.

He also speculates that Hunter Biden may be linked to classified documents that were recovered last year at the president’s Wilmington, Del., home.

Hunter Biden is being investigated for crimes including tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying, money laundering and lying about his drug use on a federal gun-purchase form.

“That may feed into … the document storage, because if he, if Hunter was at his dad’s house where these documents were found, on the day he wrote this email, that’s a pretty serious part of an investigation that puts Joe in the middle of handing off these documents to his son for illegal use,” McCormick said.

Hunter Biden wrote in documents retrieved from his laptop that he paid as much as “half” of his income to his father.

The FBI in December 2019 took possession of the now-53-year-old’s abandoned laptop, which contained a trove of communications detailing Joe Biden’s interactions with his son’s Chinese, Kazakhstani, Mexican, Russian and Ukrainian business associates — contradicting his campaign-trail claims to have never discussed with Hunter or first brother James Biden their overseas business dealings.

At an April 16, 2015 dinner at DC’s Cafe Milano, then-VP Biden joined his son and a small group including Pozharskyi, who emailed Hunter Biden the next day to thank him for “giving an opportunity to meet your father.” The note formed the basis of The Post’s first bombshell report in October 2020 on documents from the first son’s laptop.

Former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and his wife Yelena Baturina, who sought out property investments with Hunter Biden, and a trio of Kazakhstani business associates also made the guest list.

Baturina and another oligarch who sought out American real estate with Hunter Biden, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, are among the dwindling list of Russian elites not yet sanctioned by President Biden in response to last year’s invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.

The White House has said Biden stands by his claims that he has “never spoken” with his son about “his overseas business dealings” and that “I have never discussed, with my son or my brother or with anyone else, anything having to do with their businesses.”

https://nypost.com/2023/04/11/ex-biden-stenographer-says-fbi-ignored-prezs-role-in-hunters-business-dealings/

Salmonella: From Drug Resistant To Extensively Drug-Resistant (XDR)

 by Dr. Sean Lin and Jacky Guan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Salmonella is perhaps the most common cause of food poisoning. It has the advantage of being able to infect a wide range of hosts and survive in habitats ranging from animal fur to lettuce leaves. However, a rising trend of drug-resistant Salmonella cases (pdf), as indicated in a review published in the journal Foods, points to the need for improved detection and prevention methods.

Salmonella Essentials

As a key cause of diarrheal diseases and the cause of typhoid fever, Salmonella strains are responsible for causing 1.2 million illnesses annually. First and foremost, the gram-negative bacteria are known for causing stomach pains and diarrhea when a person eats something that has “gone bad.” Salmonella has about 2,500 variants and is responsible for the hospitalization of more than 25,000 people, as well as the deaths of over 400 each year in the United States alone.

Aside from stomach cramps and diarrhea, Salmonella infection can cause fever, nausea, vomiting, and a rather formidable headache. In addition, an infection caused by Salmonella Typhi could lead to typhoid fever. Along with the other aforementioned symptoms, typhoid fever leads to a skin rash and muscle weakness, and a fever as high as 103 to 104 F (39 to 40 C).

Salmonella bacteria are especially difficult to address due to the wide range of hosts and environments in which they can survive. They are nearly ubiquitous as they can live within birds, reptiles, amphibians, and most household pets. Aside from that, they can survive in frozen, fresh, and even processed goods, which is why you hear about Salmonella outbreaks popping up here and there in everything from salami sticks to “raw frozen breaded stuffed chicken products.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recorded a long list of Salmonella outbreaks starting from 2006. Usually, symptoms begin to appear six hours to six days after infection and last anywhere from four days to a week. However, people may also experience a lengthy period of symptoms that extends across many weeks, or no symptoms at all.

Salmonella diagnosis is usually performed in a laboratory and requires individual samples of blood, body tissue, or fluids. The diagnosis might take anywhere between one and five days, depending on the samples.

Salmonella treatment is usually supportive rather than targeted because, most of the time, drugs actually don’t help much. Fluid restoration is crucial as diarrhea caused by the disease tends to dehydrate the body. Plenty of rest is also highly recommended.

Antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and ceftriaxone are sometimes needed to treat patients with severe Salmonella infections. However, Salmonella infections with drug-resistant strains can be severer and have higher hospitalization rates.

Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella: What Do We Do?

The rise of drug-resistant strains of Salmonella is also part of the reason why Salmonella treatment is usually only supportive. The doctor can prescribe you anti-diarrhea medicine or antibiotics, but you’ll run some risks while taking those drugs. For one, diarrhea medication might prolong the duration of symptoms while the infection runs its course. Antibiotics aren’t usually recommended either, as they may be unnecessary and cause more harm than positive results.

Salmonella usually infect the intestines and usually won’t land in the bloodstream. Antibiotics, on the other hand, are usually for treating diseases that infect the bloodstream, which means that there essentially is no point in taking them in the first place. Additionally, excessive use of antibiotics has led to an increase in drug-resistant Salmonella.

At least 100,000 infections in the United States alone are due to antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, including strains that are resistant to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin, according to the Foods review. There have also been Salmonella outbreaks that involved strains resistant to multiple antibiotics, including ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline.

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/salmonella-drug-resistant-extensively-drug-resistant-xdr

IMF says more flexible BOJ yield control can prevent market whiplash

 The Bank of Japan could help prevent abrupt policy changes later by allowing more flexibility in its bond yield curve control, the International Monetary Fund said in its global financial stability report released on Tuesday.

Under yield curve control (YCC), the BOJ guides the 10-year government bond yield around 0% as part of efforts to sustainably achieve its 2% inflation target.

The central bank's decision in December to widen the tolerance band around the yield target has heightened market bets of a further near-term tweak or end to YCC.

Changes to the BOJ's yield control policy may affect financial markets through exchange rates, term premiums on sovereign bonds and global risk premiums, the IMF said.

"While allowing more flexibility in the yield curve control policy could have some repercussions in global financial markets, such a change not only is warranted to meet monetary policy objectives but could also help prevent abrupt policy changes later that could trigger larger spillovers," the IMF said in the report.

The BOJ has kept policy ultra-loose even as other major economies hiked interest rates to combat soaring inflation, on the view the recent cost-driven price growth won't be sustained unless accompanied by stronger economic and wage growth.

While the yield control policy has helped keep borrowing costs low, it has come under increasing criticism for distorting market pricing and crushing financial institutions' profits.

The BOJ's new governor, Kazuo Ueda, stressed on Monday his resolve to keep ultra-low interest rates for now, brushing aside lingering market expectations of a near-term policy shift.

In the report's section analysing the potential impact of a tweak to YCC, the IMF said a further rise in Japanese long-term interest rates could affect bond yields of Australia, several euro-area countries and the United States as Japanese investors repatriate the huge amount of funds parked in these markets.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-says-more-flexible-boj-001611222.html

Liftoff Imminent: China Injects Record Credit To Kickstart Economy

 One would think that judging by last night's weaker than expected CPI print (which the Fed would kill for), China is done flooding its economy with loans and various shadow debt instruments. One would be wrong.

First things first, on Tuesday China Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that March CPI fell to +0.7% yoy (vs. +1.0% consensus estimate and 1.0% in February ) and the lowest monthly increase since Sept 2021 due to a high base.

• Food CPI: +2.4% yoy in March (+5.1% mom annualized*) vs. +2.6% yoy in February, primarily due to a high base of vegetable prices from cold weather and Covid restrictions last year. Inflation in fresh vegetables fell to -11.1% yoy in March from -3.8% yoy in February, while inflation in pork prices rose to +9.6% yoy in March from +3.9% yoy in February.
• Non-food CPI: +0.3% yoy in March (+7.6% mom annualized*) vs. +0.6% yoy in February on falling crude oil prices and automobile price cuts. Specifically, fuel cost inflation fell to -6.4% yoy in March (vs. +0.5% yoy in February). Inflation in transportation equipment fell to -3.3% yoy in March (vs. -1.8% in February).

Core CPI inflation (headline CPI excluding food and energy) edged up to +0.7% yoy in March (vs. +0.6% in February), and inflation in services rose to +0.8% yoy in March (vs. +0.6% in February).

At the same time, PPI inflation fell to -2.5% Y/Y in March from -1.4% yoy in February, in line with consensus, and the lowest since June 2020 primarily on a high base of commodity prices. PPI inflation in producer goods fell to -3.4% yoy in March from -2.0% yoy in February, and PPI inflation in consumer goods edged down to +0.9% yoy in March (vs. +1.1% yoy in February). NBS commented that improved demand and accelerated infrastructure projects drove up PPIs of cement and steel sectors sequentially, but year-over-year PPI inflation fell due to a high base last year.

As Goldman summarizes, the data have continued to surprise to the downside and companies appear to be reluctant to raise prices (in order to stay competitive), and so the bank has revised down its full-year 2023 forecasts of headline CPI and PPI inflation to 1.8% yoy and -1.0% yoy, respectively vs. 2.2% and -0.5% previously. Looking ahead, the bank expects headline CPI inflation in year-over-year terms to accelerate modestly in the coming months on an economic rebound, though it should remain well below the PBOC’s 3% target. PPI deflation may continue in the coming months.

Ok so if both CPI and PPI missed and continued to slide, that's hardly the sign of an economy that is about to rebound, or one that is seeing an active credit stimulus. Maybe, but it's not for lack of trying because as China also reported overnight in March loans and Total Social Financing data came in well above expectations, a sign that the central bank’s moves to unleash more long-term liquidity into the economy and support bank lending is rapidly fueling investment activity.

Specifically, total RMB loans surprised the market to the upside mainly on stronger medium to long term loans - both households' medium to long term new borrowing (mostly mortgages) and corporates' medium to long term new borrowing improved in March. In contrast, bill financing and households' short-term loan growth slowed in March vs February.

Here are the main numbers reported by the PBOC:

• New CNY loans 3890bn yuan in March vs. Bloomberg consensus: RMB 3300 bn
  • Outstanding CNY loan growth: 11.8% yoy in March up from 11.6% yoy in February
• Total social financing (TSF) 5,387bn yuan in March, vs. consensus 4565bn yuan. This was a record high TSF injection for the month of March
  • TSF stock growth: 10.0% yoy in March, vs. 9.9% in February. The implied month-on-month growth of TSF stock: 14.4% in March vs. 17.8% in February.
• M2: 12.7% yoy in March vs. Bloomberg consensus: 12.7% yoy and down from February's 12.9% yoy.

New corporate mid and long-term loans — an indicator of their willingness to invest in new projects and capacities — jumped from a year ago. Government bond issuance remained robust, as local authorities have announced plans to raise spending on major construction projects by 17% this year.

While credit growth usually picks up at the end of each quarter as banks rush to meet lending targets. But lending and financing activities were also stronger than expected in the first two months of this year, as government bond issuance surged and corporate credit demand began to recover following the abandonment of Covid restrictions.

This composition of loan data suggests further improvement in credit demand in the month, although news reports suggested some signs of financial re-leveraging amid falling loan interest rates. Total social financing month-over-month annualized growth slowed from the very fast pace in February, mainly on the back of lower corporate and government bond issuance. M2 month-over-month growth accelerated in March on the back of strong credit data.

As noted above, in a sign of recovering housing demand across the country, new household mid- and long-term loans, a proxy for mortgages, picked up strongly to the highest level since January 2022.

That's right, China is quietly reflating the world's biggest asset class bubble.

While this continuous injection of massive amounts of credit into the economy has failed to manifest itself in faster growth and higher prices so far, it's only a matter of time now: after all, it is now clear that Beijing wants a full-blown economic liftoff and it is willing to risk reflating another credit bubble to get there. 

Indeed, the PBOC has stepped up cash injections to help banks cope with tighter liquidity. It unleashed 500 billion yuan of long-term cash into the banking system by cutting the reserve requirement ratio last month, according to estimates by Bloomberg Economics. The central bank also added the most cash in over two years through its monthly medium-term loans operation in March.

“If the trend in credit growth extends into April and May, it would translate into significant support for the economy’s recovery through investment financing,” said Raymond Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, quoted by Bloomberg.

“The figures show firms are making greater use of the government’s loan supports. They also show a recovery in household demand for mortgages — another sign that the property market slump is starting to ease. We see credit growth continuing to climb in 2Q, albeit gradually, supported by a looser policy stance and a broader recovery in demand” said Bloomberg economist Eric Zhu.

As if RRR cuts and injecting record loans into the economy was not enough, some economists, including Bloomberg Economics’ David Qu, forecast continue easing by Beijing and forecast a cut in the policy interest rate in the second quarter. Policy easing expectations continued to grow Tuesday after authorities reported weak inflation data, with bonds rallying as the yield on 10-year government notes booked the biggest one-day drop since the middle of December.

Bottom line: the 2008 deja vu meter just went off the charts, because while the US is about to sink into a recession with commercial real estate set to fall all off a cliff, it is once again China that is - willingly or otherwise - set to serve as the world's growth dynamo at a time when the entire developed world is about to max out at the same time. This is precisely what happened in 2008 when China unleashed the biggest credit expansion in modern history, sparking not only historic growth spree but also an exponential debt increase that sent China's debt to over 300% of GDP.

What happens next? Keep an eye on China's credit impulse - this most leading indicator of the global reflationary cycle - which is about to rise above its two year highs after which it will again be on its way to new all time highs.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/liftoff-imminent-china-injects-record-credit-kickstart-economy

California county starts monitoring wastewater for illicit drugs

 As the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, a California county is using the same wastewater monitoring program it used to track the coronavirus to go after another deadly public health crisis: opioids.

Marin County, north of San Francisco, began a pilot program in February to collect wastewater samples from its sanitation agency and test them for the presence of substances like fentanyl, methamphetamines, cocaine, and nicotine.

Local authorities hope the data could be beneficial in assisting prevention and intervention efforts. For example, if there is an abundance of opioids present in the samples, they could boost the distribution of Narcan, which rapidly reverses the effects of the illegal drug, especially when given within minutes of the first signs of an overdose.

"The problem of overdose is a public health crisis. We're losing one resident every five days in Marin County," said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County's public health officer. "And so we really think it's important for us to develop the same kind of surveillance methods, the same kind of intelligence we had applied to the COVID-19 pandemic, to this new crisis of overdoses."

Marin County, like many other places in the U.S., is grappling with a drug epidemic. Overdose deaths rose from 30 in 2018 to 65 in 2021, according to the county's department of health and human services.

The county used the same method and partners to monitor for evidence of the spread of the coronavirus, so the infrastructure for the pilot program is largely in place.

Twice a week, workers with the Central Marin Sanitation Agency collect a 50-milliliter sample of wastewater from the roughly 8 million gallons that flow into its San Rafael facility daily. That wastewater comes from residential, commercial, and industrial sources like kitchen and bathroom sinks, toilets, and showers.

The sample is then shipped to Biobot Analytics, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Biobot researchers then analyze the sample for the presence of drugs.

Biobot declined to say how many U.S. counties are specifically testing for substances but said they test samples from more than 700 locations across more than 50 states, territories, and provinces. The locations include sites that are testing for either infectious diseases, high-risk substances, or both.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/california-county-starts-monitoring-wastewater-100905736.html

OpenAI to offer users up to $20,000 for reporting bugs

 OpenAI, the firm behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, said on Tuesday that it would offer up to $20,000 to users reporting vulnerabilities in its artificial intelligence systems.

OpenAI Bug Bounty program, which went live on Tuesday, will offer rewards to people based on the severity of the bugs they report, with rewards starting from $200 per vulnerability.

Technology companies often use bug bounty programs to encourage programmers and ethical hackers to report bugs in their software systems.

According to details on bug bounty platform Bugcrowd, OpenAI has invited researchers to review certain functionality of ChatGPT and the framework of how OpenAI systems communicate and share data with third-party applications.

The program does not include incorrect or malicious content produced by OpenAI systems.

The move comes days after ChatGPT was banned in Italy for a suspected breach of privacy rules, prompting regulators in other European countries to study generative AI services more closely.

Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has taken the world by storm since its launch in November, has wowed some users with quick responses to questions and caused distress for others with inaccuracies.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/openai-offer-users-20-000-190833482.html

Lawmakers warn Chinese e-commerce apps may help avoid enforcement of anti-forced labor laws

 A bipartisan group of lawmakers is warning that goods made with forced labor from Uyghurs and other persecuted minority groups in China could be slipping into the U.S. via Chinese e-commerce apps due to a "loophole" for imported shipments worth less than $800.

Leaders of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, including Chair Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J.; co-chair Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; and ranking members Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote to Customs and Border Protection seeking an explanation of how the so-called "de minimis" exemption for shipments under $800 applies under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).

"News reports about Chinese companies such as SHEIN and TEMU raise concerns about direct-to-consumer purchases," the group wrote while noting that "de minimis shipping allows vendors to send materials without having to report basic data, such as country-of-origin and manufacturer, if they claim that the value is under $800," under trade law.

The lawmakers explained that they’re considering legislation to address the de minimis loophole and requested more information about how CBP is enforcing the UFLPA regarding "de minimis" shipments from the People’s Republic of China.

They asked the agency to "report back to us about how CBP intends to update the UFLPA implementation strategy to address the challenges posed by direct-to-consumer businesses such as TEMU, whose Superbowl ads signaled its efforts to expand its reach in the United States and whose app is now one of the most downloaded in the United States.

"The fact that the Google Play Store recently suspended the app of TEMU’s Chinese parent company Pinduoduo (PPD) — citing security concerns about malware — only makes a concerted response to TEMU based imports all the more urgent," the group added.

TEMU is an online shopping service that operates in the U.S. and Canada but is a subsidiary of Pinduoduo Inc., a Chinese online retailer. SHEIN is a Chinese e-commerce company headquartered in Singapore that became the world’s largest fast fashion retailer late last year.

Application of the de minimis exception with respect to goods bought by consumers in the U.S. from SHEIN and TEMU could undercut enforcement of the UFLPA given that apparel and textile products are at high risk of being made in whole or in part with Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang.

The U.S. and several other countries have accused China of committing genocide against the Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. The Chinese Communist Party has engaged in the mass detention of Uyghurs in "reeducation camps" and forced them to work in factories. The CCP denies those allegations, claiming those camps are for "vocational training."

The UFLPA took effect in June 2022 after it passed both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Biden in December 2021. Under the UFLPA, there is a rebuttable presumption that any goods made in Xinjiang, including supply chain components sent elsewhere for further assembly, are the product of forced labor and subject to import restrictions. 

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The rebuttable presumption allows companies whose goods were held for inspection to provide clear and convincing evidence that the imports weren't mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor. Importers can also request an applicability review and claim their supply chain doesn't include components made with forced labor in Xinjiang so the UFLPA does not apply to their goods.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/lawmakers-warn-chinese-e-commerce-apps-help-avoid-enforcement-anti-forced-labor-laws