The bipartisan House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has issued a warning to auto parts retailers regarding the purchase and sale of parts from Chinese brand Qingdao Sunsong. The company is currently under investigation for trade fraud by federal authorities. According to public company disclosures, major U.S. auto part retailers such as AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, and O’Reilly Auto Parts account for over 40 percent of Qingdao Sunsong’s sales.
Committee Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), along with Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), as well as Reps. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), and Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), wrote a letter urging caution in dealing with Qingdao Sunsong. They emphasized that U.S. retailers have a responsibility to ensure their procurement practices do not support companies engaged in tariff evasion or other unlawful trade practices.
The lawmakers allege that Qingdao Sunsong has been shipping Chinese products through Thailand in order to evade U.S. customs duties, which undermines American production and jobs. They point to the company’s own disclosures when it applied to be listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange in 2022, which revealed a pattern of trade fraud.
Qingdao Sunsong claims that its products are “Made in Thailand,” but its disclosures indicate that only a small portion of value is added during processing in Thailand, falling short of the substantial transformation required by the U.S. Department of Commerce for lower tariffs.
In January, Qingdao Sunsong’s U.S. headquarters in Ohio was raided by the Department of Homeland Security as part of an ongoing investigation into the company’s activities.
The lawmakers’ letter also raises concerns about companies complicit in knowingly purchasing items falsely labeled with incorrect countries of origin, which is illegal under U.S law.
Furthermore, they inquire whether these retailers have taken steps to ensure they are not buying goods from China made with slave labor as required by the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
Lawmakers have increasingly called for restrictions on Chinese imports due to security concerns and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party against ethnic and religious minority groups such as Uyghurs, Christians, and practitioners of Falun Gong.
