- The US is to block key exports from China’s Xinjiang region due to allegations that they are produced using forced labour.
- The proposed bans include cotton and tomato products which are two of China’s major commodity exports.
- The Trump administration has been ratcheting up pressure on China for its treatment of Xinjiang’s Uighur Muslims.
- In recent years China has massively increased security in Xinjiang, citing a threat of separatism and terrorism.
- By some estimates up to a million people have been detained without trial for minor infractions, in what China says are re-education camps.
- The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is currently preparing Withhold Release Orders which allows it to detain shipments based on suspicions of forced labour involvement.
- The law is aimed at combating human trafficking, child labour and other human rights abuses.
- Earlier this year US lawmakers proposed legislation that would assume that all goods produced in Xinjiang were made with forced labour and would require certification that they are not.
- Washington and Beijing have repeatedly clashed over the high-security detention camps, which China says are necessary to improve security.
- The proposed bans could have a far-reaching impact for US retailers, clothes makers and food producers.
- China produces about 20% of the world’s cotton with most of it coming from Xinjiang.
- The region is also a major source of petrochemicals and other goods that feed into Chinese factories.
