WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators introduced legislation last week to crack down on the evasion of U.S. import duties by shipping product through third countries, a practice also known as transshipment.

The bill by Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would give the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Customs and Border Protection office more tools to crack down on evasion of duties by importers and foreign suppliers. The proposal is called the Enforcing Orders and Reducing Circumvention and Evasion Act.

A press release from a supporter of the bill, the Coalition for Enforcement of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders, said duty evasion schemes cause the loss of "good-paying jobs, injures domestic industries, and costs the U.S. Treasury millions of dollars in uncollected duties every year."

The coalition consists of several companies representing steel nail, innerspring, wire garment hanger and steel threaded rod manufacturers, including innerspring producer Leggett & Platt.

Each company separately petitioned the government for relief from dumped imports. The group earlier this year met with officials on Capitol Hill to argue for stronger enforcement of duties.
"This act will give our key enforcement agencies new tools to stop illegal evasion of our trade laws and help maintain a fair and level playing field for U.S. manufacturers and their workers," said Joe Downes, a spokesman for the coalition and senior vice president of Leggett & Platt.