US extends import ban to dozens of Chinese companies on forced-labour claims

Dozens more Chinese companies have been added to the US’ growing blacklist for allegedly using forced-labour. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified a further 29 businesses that it said were using forced Uyghur labour in China’s Xinjiang province to produce goods. As such, these firms are now banned from importing into the US.

The move falls in line with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLP), signed into US law in 2021 by the Biden administration in an attempt to curb the influx of companies producing in Xinjiang, where there has been reported evidence of forced labour against incarcerated Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups.

As such, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List was established, outlining the companies prohibited from entering the US following investigations into their supply chain. Their inclusion can either be triggered by evidence of sourcing materials from the region or working with the government of Xinjiang to recruit, transport, harbour or receive members of persecuted groups.

Among those included on the list is that of Hong Kong’s Esquel Group, a textile and apparel firm that had allegedly sourced cotton from the Xinjiang region. The company and its subsidiaries, one of which had initially been banned through a separate ruling, had previously attempted to overturn the decision via a lawsuit, but was later subject to a full ban.

On this latest string of restrictions, Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, reaffirmed DHS’ stance, stating: “Forced labor is a violation of basic human rights. The DHS has aggressively enforced the UFLP, preventing goods made through forced labor from entering our country, investigating and exposing more than 100 bad actors, and helping American businesses avoid inadvertently profiting from this modern form of slavery.

“Alongside our government, industry, and civil society partners, the US is making progress towards the eradication of forced labour while supporting economic fairness, safeguarding human rights, and holding perpetrators accountable.”