Congress Has the Chance to Fight China’s Trade Crimes
At the end of August, the House passed the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act of 2026, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Representative Ashley Hinson (R, IA-2)that would give the U.S. new tools to combat trade-related crimes. Motivated by Chinese companies that abuse our nation’s trade laws in order to get a leg up over domestic companies, the bill would go a long way towards leveling the playing field and enforcing existing statutory trade crimes.
This Bill Would Give the Department of Justice a Dedicated Task Force to Prosecute Violations
According to Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R, MI-4), “This bipartisan legislation will arm the Department of Justice (DOJ) with the tools to stop trade crimes often perpetrated by China-backed companies. These crimes devastate American manufacturing, and they are a threat to the prosperity of every single American. … Stopping China’s trade crimes and predatory trade practices is essential to the future of our country.” The provisions of the Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act include:
Establishing a New Structure to Prosecute International Trade Crimes: This bill would establish a task force within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes. As part of the task force, DOJ would hire criminal trial attorneys and associated support personnel to lead and coordinate trade-related crime investigations and cases.Those criminal trial attorneys would include “experienced and technically qualified criminal prosecutors.” This task force would be able to increase the capabilities and capacity of the DOJ to prosecute trade-related crimes, ultimately increasing the number of investigations and prosecutions and potentially leading to better outcomes.
Enable More Coordination at All Levels to Mobilize a Whole-of-Government Response: Part of the duties of the new task force would be to coordinate across a vast array of governmental entities, including participating in training events with and providing technical assistance to Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other Federal agencies with respect to trade-related crimes. The task force would also develop multi-jurisdictional partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in addition to agencies of other countries that are trading partners of the U.S. to share knowledge, personnel, and specialized equipment to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes.
Require an Annual Report to Congress: Under this bill, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, would submit an annual report to Congress on the work of the DOJ to investigate and enforce trade-related crimes, including annual statistics on the volume of publicly charged trade-related crimes and indictments, a summary on how appropriated funds were used, and an estimate of any additional funding needed.
Altogether, this bill would increase resources to the Department of Justice and mandate an explicit focus on the investigation and prosecution of trade-related crimes.
Chinese Companies Are Breaking U.S. Law to Get Ahead
As we’ve written before, Chinese companies have a history of circumventing U.S. and international law in order to get a leg up on domestic competitors; the longer these companies get away with flagrant violations that go unpunished, the more they are emboldened to push the bounds of illegal behavior. Far from being a mere hypothetical, the number and breadth of Chinese companies breaking trade laws is astonishing:
Last week, a racketeering conspiracy trial began for Huawei Technologies in New York, with federal prosecutors arguing that the Chinese company had engaged in “stealing technology from American companies, abusing the U.S. financial system and helping Iran snoop on its citizens.” According to the DOJ, amongst other allegations, Huawei engaged in a decades-long scheme that included “entering into confidentiality agreements with the owners of the intellectual property and then violating the terms of the agreements by misappropriating the intellectual property for the defendants’ own commercial use, recruiting employees of other companies and directing them to misappropriate their former employers’ intellectual property, and using proxies such as professors working at research institutions to obtain and provide the technology to the defendants. As part of the scheme, Huawei allegedly launched a policy instituting a bonus program to reward employees who obtained confidential information from competitors. The policy made clear that employees who provided valuable information were to be financially rewarded.”
Just this week, the DOJ filed forfeiture lawsuits to recover $61 million from digital wallets, alleging that two Chinese companies - Hexa Whale Trading and Blessed Trust – used Binance accounts to launder money for black-market Iranian oil and to fund the Iranian government.
Meanwhile, the White House last month laid out the case for how Chinese companies have evaded between $19 billion to $26 billion in annual tariffs by rerouting goods through other countries.
All told, Chinese companies are engaging in ongoing statutory violations at the expense of American companies.
The Senate Has the Chance to Enact This Trade Enforcement Bill
According to bill sponsor Representative Ashley Hinson, “China has spent decades finding ways to undermine American workers and our economy. My bill will finally give the DOJ real tools to stop these blatant violations and ensure penalties are meaningfully enforced.” This bill has also been supported in the past by the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who pointed out that “[t]he Chinese Communist Party and other bad actors exploit U.S. trade laws at the expense of American companies and workers.” Now that the bill has passed the House and has been sent to the Senate, it is up to the upper chamber to pass this bill, send it to the president’s desk, and send a message to Chinese companies that the United States will no longer tolerate flagrant and willful violations of our trade laws.