Russ Feingold: “this amendment simply intends to try to make sure that the African portion of this legislation does not become a…”

“this amendment simply intends to try to make sure that the African portion of this legislation does not become a mechanism whereby governments or businesses from China, for example, ship their goods through Africa as a way to evade American quotas. This is another process called transshipment. During the debate, I pointed out that on a web site of the Chinese Government, they essentially say this is exactly what they are going to do. It is what they are already doing. We have put some responsibility on importers. American importers will have the benefit of this bill to make sure they vouch for the legitimate content of this product having some characteristic of being actually from Africa. It is a very important provision to make sure this bill has some balance and it doesn't threaten American jobs. The figures I quoted indicate that for every $1 billion in illegally transshipped goods, it costs about 40,000 American jobs in the textile and related areas. This is a very straightforward amendment that opposes the practice of transshipment I think every Member of this body would like to support.”