BUSINESS NEWS JUNE 23, 2019 / 1:21 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

FedEx sues U.S. government over 'impossible' task of policing exports to China

Kanishka Singh, Sijia Jiang
4 MIN READ

(Reuters) - U.S. parcel delivery firm FedEx Corp on Monday sued the U.S. government, saying it should not be held liable if it inadvertently shipped products that violated a Trump administration ban on exports to some Chinese companies.

The move came after FedEx reignited Chinese ire over its business practices when a package containing a Huawei phone sent to the United States was returned last week to its sender in Britain, in what FedEx said was an “operational error.” Fears that China would blacklist FedEx as a result sent its shares down 2.7 percent on Monday.

FedEx’s suit and delivery error come against a backdrop of increasing tension between the world’s two biggest economies. The United States and China have been engaged in a trade fight for nearly a year on issues such as tariffs, subsidies, technology, regulations and cyber security.

The U.S. Commerce Department has banned a number of Chinese firms in recent weeks from buying sensitive U.S. technology.

In court filings in the District of Columbia, FedEx said it should not be expected to enforce the export ban, and could not reasonably be held liable for shipping products that it did not know about.

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