Commentary: Attempt to protect Chinese market share is basis of FedEx lawsuit against U.S. Department of Commerce

FreightWaves features commentary from Market Voices – contributors with unique knowledge of numerous transportation/logistics/supply chain sectors, as well as other critical expertise.

FedEx announced on June 24 that it is suing the U.S. Department of Commerce in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. From its announcement: “FedEx believes that the Export Administration Regulations [EAR] violate common carriers’ rights to due process under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as they unreasonably hold common carriers strictly liable for shipments that may violate the EAR without requiring evidence that the carriers had knowledge of any violations.”

Huawei Technology Co. is a Chinese telecommunications company that has repeatedly been in the news as the subject of several federal investigations. In January of this year, a multi-count indictment against Huawei Telecommunications was unsealed in Bellevue, Washington, with Deutsche Telekom’s U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile at the center of an alleged theft of intellectual property dating back to 2012.

In December, 2018, the daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company’s CFO Wanzhou Meng was detained upon her arrival in Canada and has remained under house arrest as the U.S. government seeks her extradition. The U.S. Department of Justice’s 13-count indictment against Meng and three other defendants in late January alleges fraud and attempted evasion of U.S. sanctions against Iran. This week, Meng’s attorneys argued in Canadian court that the country has no jurisdiction in the case and cannot act as a police force for the United States. No decision has been reached.