Seven US Cos on the Met for Buying China Auto Parts

· They are buying products from Chinese company Qingdao Sunsong and its US based subsidiary.

· Foreign importers that knowingly falsify the country of origin label on their products are subject to criminal and civil penalties

[ABS News Service/09.09.2024]

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China are raising concerns that US auto parts companies are purchasing products from a Chinese company currently under investigation for evading US customs duties.

Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich) and ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill) have written to the heads of AutoZone, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Genuine Parts Company, Advance Auto Parts, First Brands Group and Factory Motor Parts questioning whether they are buying products from Chinese company Qingdao Sunsong and its US based subsidiary.

The company is under investigation for illegally transshipping its Made in China products through Thailand into the United States in an effort to evade US customs duties.

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Reps. Darin LaHood (R-Ill), Glenn Ivey (D-Md) and Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) joined the inquiry.

In the letters, the bipartisan group writes, “Public company disclosures reveal that U.S. auto part retailers like AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, and O’Reilly Auto Parts account for more than 40% of [Quingdao Sunsong’s] sales. U.S. retailers are responsible for ensuring their procurement practices do not inadvertently support companies engaged in tariff evasion or other unlawful trade practices. Such practices harm American manufacturers, undermine U.S. policy goals, and reward the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s unfair economic policies.”

They continue, “Foreign importers that knowingly falsify the country of origin label on their products are subject to criminal and civil penalties, including significant fines and penalties under 19 U.S.C. § 1592. Companies found complicit in knowingly purchasing unlawfully transshipped products also face serious criminal and civil liability. Given prior congressional efforts to raise concerns about Qingdao Sunsong and the recent DHS raid of its U.S. facility, we are troubled by your company’s continued procurement of its products.”