Introduction
Many analysts contend the health and safety of products from China due to their ineffective regulatory pathway. The consumer protection laws are weak and poorly executed; in addition, there are inadequate inspections of imported items and punishment due to violation of policies (Che et al., 2020). The rapid and large-scale import from China makes it difficult for U.S. agencies to conduct quality checks for all imported goods (Mirosa et al., 2020). Furthermore, China is the largest source of U.S. consumer products and accounts for a disproportionately large share of safety recalls. Therefore, if the policy for holding U.S. agency companies liable for the tort of injuries to consumers goes through, business in the USA would be negatively affected. The policy would compel them to incur extra costs to monitor and regulate the imports. This would reduce the quantity and rate of product supply to the retailers and would consequently be unavailable to the consumers over time.
Strategy to Minimize Liability Exposure and Its Effect on Businesses
To minimize liability exposure, the U.S. agencies for imports should diligently test for all the products imported. The items imported to be used in manufacturing should be analyzed, and it is needed to ensure they are safe to be incorporated into the system. Most importantly, the manufacturers should attach a warning on the product to caution consumers about their usage of the product. However, this strategy would slow down businesses; products imported would go through a long process before reaching the consumer affecting the chain of supply (Mirosa et al., 2020). Finances would also be incurred during cross-checking the goods, thus reducing the profit margin. Moreover, this would shun some consumers from buying such goods to question their safety and durability, thus reducing the income rates.
References
Che, Y., & Xiao, R. (2020). Import competition, fast-track authority and U.S. policy toward China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 48(4), 974−996. Web.
Mirosa, M., Liu, Y., & Bremer, P. (2020). Chinese consumers’ perceptions of food safety cues and maximising the effectiveness of food safety communications.British Food Journal, 123(1), 261−278. Web.