US Seeks Reconsideration of Temporary Vacatur of Forced Labor Finding Amid Litigation
The U.S. asked the Court of International Trade on Oct. 23 to reconsider a temporary stay of a CBP forced labor finding regarding a Dominican aluminum extrusions exporter (Kingtom Aluminio v. United States, CIT # 24-00264).
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The finding, made in regard to products manufactured by Kingtom Aluminio, was remanded to CBP for further explanation or reversal in December 20204 (see 2509230043). The U.S. said CBP is currently “working to further publicly explain its determination.”
CIT’s decision to vacate the finding until its final judgment in the case would allow goods made by forced labor into the country in the meantime, the government said.
“Ample evidence” demonstrates this, it said. CIT remanded CBP’s forced labor finding for a “procedural” reason, it noted -- “a failure to publicly explain the factual basis for the finding.” But the confidential record offered plenty of support for the agency’s conclusion, it said
Worker interviews, conducted while the Dominican Republic’s government had actually shut down Kingtom’s facility for labor and safety reasons, showed that the workers’ wages were regularly withheld for “minor infractions” or for completely unexplained reasons. The workers were subject to 12-hour days and unsafe conditions, including physical abuse by Kingtom’s management, it said. And they weren’t allowed to leave until the end of their shifts, with armed guards stationed at factory exits, it said.
The Dominican Republic shut down Kingtom’s facilities twice, once in 2022 and once in 2024, the U.S. said. In the latter instance, inspections showed that Kingtom had collected 102 violations of the country’s health and safety code and 51 violations of its labor code.
First, CIT erred by failing to discuss the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s standard for vacating such decisions, the U.S. said.
It also said the trade court made a factual error. The court, it said, “appeared to conflate” the verification procedures undertaken by CBP in its Enforce and Protect Act investigation of Kingtom with the agency’s separate forced labor investigation.
In particular, it observed, the court said that the forced labor investigation’s allegation assessment discussed the facility’s labor conditions during the EAPA verification proceeding, but didn’t specifically claim that Kingtom was employing forced labor. CIT also stated that the allegation assessment occurred prior to the actual forced labor investigation, it said. But neither of those things was true, it said; the allegation assessment did reference the EAPA proceeding, but it was written after the forced labor investigation and went over the International Labor Organization’s 11 standards for finding forced labor.
Justice requires that the vacatur be lifted, it said. Once entered, it will be difficult or even impossible to have Kingtom’s aluminum extrusions recalled, it said. Further, “Kingtom has indicated that it is eager to import its goods given the vacatur,” it claimed.
On the other hand, Kingtom would still be allowed to enter products even if the finding were to stay in place, as it would simply have to show that its entries hadn’t been made using forced labor, it said.
“Maintaining the Finding would preserve our stringent policy against forced labor encompassed by section 1307 to prevent goods made with forced labor from entering into the United States without any restriction,” it said.