Sims Warns China Flooding US with Dangerous Products that Kill Children

The office in charge of inspecting consumer products coming into the United States at 327 ports of entry only has about 50 inspectors, which allows illegal products from China that harm children to easily slip through, according to witnesses who testified at a congressional hearing on Friday.

Teresa Murray, Director of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s Consumer Watchdog program, testified that China is flooding the United States with millions of children’s toys that could be hazardous to American children.

“The biggest problems are imported toys, counterfeit toys, and toys that have been recalled but remain on sale for purchase,” Murray testified to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

“About 79% of the toys sold in the U.S. and Europe are manufactured in China,” she said. “In 2023, the [U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission] recalled 23 toys. Of those, 19 were manufactured in China…those 23 toys were implicated in 68 injuries and three deaths of children so far. But there are actually a lot more dangerous toys out there.”

She testified that Chinese companies skirt the rules and also bog down the legal system to try to avoid accountability. In one specific instance, a dangerous, a Chinese-made toy took over five years to finally get recalled — but had already been sold 3.2 million times in the U.S. In another instance, over seven million had been sold.

James Joholske, the Director of the Office of Import Surveillance, the office tasked with inspecting consumer product imports, testified that with only about 50 personnel to conduct inspections at 327 ports of entry, they have to rely heavily on algorithms and other technological tools to identify likely offenders.

“We do not have enough resources to adequately address the risks that are coming in related to imported products. Again, China is by far the largest exporter to the U.S. when it comes to products under our jurisdiction,” he testified.

Commissioner Cliff Sims, who served as deputy director of national intelligence under former President Donald Trump, said he believes it is time to play hardball with China to protect American children.

“My predisposition toward being an unabashed free-trader has been dramatically changed the more that I have dug into the U.S.-China relationship and the value of tariffs and many other tools at our disposal to address some of these issues,” he said at the hearing. “And one of the fundamental tenets of what our trade relationship should be with China is reciprocity.”

He added that the Chinese government has the power to easily stop dangerous consumer products from flooding into the United States, but do not.

“If we had some sort of negative [Chinese Communist Party] or [Chinese President] Xi Jinping commentary on these toys or on these products… they would get shut down immediately,” he said in reference to China’s practice of banning Winnie the Pooh after Chinese citizens mocked Xi for looking like the cartoon.

Sims joked, “[That] leads me to believe that if we really want to stop China from sending toys into our country that are hurting and killing our children, we should just threaten to flood the Chinese market with Winnie the Pooh.”

Sims told Breitbart News in an exclusive statement:

We should use every tool at our disposal to protect American consumers and children from the threats posed by these Chinese products. But even outside of that category, the lack of resources to adequately inspect these Chinese goods flowing into the country poses not only a danger to consumers, but also to U.S. national security.

He added:

The Commission as a whole will look at these issues and come to a consensus on recommendations to Congress. But in my personal opinion, it seems like our consumer ports of entry are nearly as open as our southern border. And similarly, it’s not because the enforcement officials aren’t doing their jobs or want it to be that way. They don’t have the resources and tools they need. And as we heard during the hearing, it’s putting American citizens in danger.

Joholske testified that an increase in his office’s budget would help. He said his office was appropriated $152 million in fiscal year 2023, and is asking for $212.6 million in 2024.

“The resource level we are at now, and the staff — and I’ll speak for my office, the Office of Import Surveillance, we do not have enough resources to adequately address the risks that are coming in related to imported products. Again, China is by far the largest exporter to the U.S. when it comes to products under our jurisdiction” he said.

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