WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a ban on imports of cotton and tomatoes from China’s Xinjiang region, as well as all products made with these materials, citing human rights violations and the widespread use of forced labor in the region.
The move could have far-reaching implications for apparel and food manufacturers, many of whom have tried to distance themselves from the atrocities in Xinjiang but have struggled to ensure their supply chains are free of all raw materials from the region. The area is an important source of cotton, coal, chemicals, sugar, tomatoes and polysilicon, a component of solar panels, which are then fed to factories across China and around the world.
The ban allows customs officials to stop imports that they suspect are made with raw materials from Xinjiang, regardless of whether they are traveling to the US directly from China or any other country.
China has harshly attacked predominantly Muslim minority groups in far west of Xinjiang, including detaining a million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other groups in camps and closely monitoring the rest of the population, human rights groups say.
Forced labor also appears to be widespread in the region. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said an investigation found numerous indicators of forced labor in Xinjiang, including debt bondage, restricted mobility, withheld wages and abusive living and working conditions. The Chinese government denies the existence of forced labor in Xinjiang and states that all agreements are voluntary.
Scott Nova, executive director of the Workers Rights Consortium, a labor rights group, described the ban as “a high decibel wake-up call for any clothing brand that continues to deny the proliferation and problem of forced labor cotton” in the region.
“This ban will redefine how the clothing industry – from Amazon to Nike to Zara – sources its materials and workers,” said Nova. “Any global clothing brand that is neither from Xinjiang nor planning a very quick exit is campaigning for a legal and reputational disaster.”
The Workers Rights Consortium estimates that American brands and retailers import more than 1.5 billion garments each year that use Xinjiang materials, representing more than $ 20 billion in retail sales. China is also the world’s largest tomato producer, with Xinjiang making up most of that production, the group said.
Independent researchers and media reports have linked dozens of the world’s best-known multinationals with workers or products from Xinjiang, including Apple, Nike, Kraft Heinz and Campbell Soup.
Some textile and clothing companies that used Xinjiang cotton or yarn have announced that they will separate ties, including Patagonia, Marks and Spencer, and H&M. However, many companies have found it difficult to identify the origin of all products used by their Chinese suppliers investigate, particularly given the lack of independent auditor access to facilities in Xinjiang.
The contract will “send a crystal clear message to the trading community: know your supply chains,” said Mark Morgan, acting commissioner for US Customs and Border Protection. Importers need to ensure that their own supply chains are free of forced labor, he added. “It’s the law.”
The Trump administration has added increasingly restrictive measures to Xinjiang, including sanctions against dozens of companies and individuals for alleged human rights abuses.
In December, customs officials announced a ban on cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, an economic and paramilitary group that produces much of the region’s cotton. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has already arrested 43 shipments worth more than $ 2 million under the ban, officials said on Wednesday.
Congress is also considering sweeping legislation that would block imports from Xinjiang unless companies can demonstrate that supply chains in the region are free from forced labor.
While the United States has taken the most vigorous action on this front, both Canada and Britain this week put rules in place to prevent Xinjiang-related goods from entering their countries.
Despite growing concerns about Chinese practices in the region, Xinjiang’s exports to the US and Europe increased significantly from 2019 to 2020, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
However, trade experts say the new measures will raise questions about whether customs officials will be able to fully enforce such a sweeping ban that requires tracing Xinjiang materials through supply chains around the world.
A report released in October by the US Government Accountability Office found that customs faced staff shortages and other problems despite a new department and new resources to block goods made using forced labor.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Brenda Smith, the deputy commissioner for the Trade and Border Protection Bureau, said it was “a challenge to relate what we see in a port of entry to the raw materials produced in Xinjiang. “The department is using new tracking methods to uncover products made using forced labor, she said.
The department is increasingly using new technologies such as pollen analysis to try to identify cotton and other materials from Xinjiang in overseas products.
