FedEx sues US government over 'impossible' task of policing exports to China

US parcel delivery firm FedEx Corp on Monday sued the US 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." 

The US Commerce Department has banned a number of Chinese firms in recent weeks from buying US 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.

Export restriction rules "essentially deputize FedEx to police the contents of the millions of packages it ships daily even though doing so is a virtually impossible task, logistically, economically, and in many cases, legally," it said in a filing.

A US Commerce Department spokesman responded that, "We have not yet reviewed the complaint, but nevertheless look forward to defending Commerce's role in protecting US national security."

'Operational error'

Last month, China said it would launch an investigation after two parcels sent via FedEx destined for Huawei addresses in Asia were diverted to the United States. FedEx said the packages were "misrouted in error."

In the latest incident, technology news outlet PCMag said its writer in Britain had attempted to send a Huawei P30 handset to a colleague in the United States. FedEx returned the phone and told the sender that it could not deliver the package because of a "US government issue" with Huawei and the Chinese government, PCMag reported.

FedEx responded by saying publicly that it would deliver all products made by Huawei to addresses other than those of Huawei and affiliates placed on the US national security blacklist.

FedEx rival United Parcel Service Inc also confirmed it would not ship to Huawei addresses on the Entity List but had no "general ban" on Huawei products.

A Huawei spokesman said the Chinese firm was not currently using either FedEx or UPS services. On Sunday, Huawei tweeted it was not within FedEx's right to prevent the delivery and said the courier had a "vendetta."