The United States has added dozens more Chinese companies to its growing blacklist for allegedly utilising forced labour. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has named 29 additional companies that it claims were manufacturing goods in China’s Xinjiang province employing coerced Uyghur labour. Consequently, these companies are no longer permitted to import into the United States.
The action aligns with the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLP), which was enacted by the Biden administration in 2021 in an effort to limit the number of businesses that produce in Xinjiang, where there has been documented evidence of forced labour against Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups who are incarcerated.
As a result of supply chain investigations, the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act Entity List was created, listing the businesses that were barred from entering the US. Evidence of obtaining goods from the area or collaboration with the Xinjiang government to recruit, transport, harbour, or welcome members of persecuted groups may serve as the impetus for their inclusion.
Among those on the list is the Esquel Group of Hong Kong, a clothing and textile company that allegedly purchased cotton from Xinjiang. Prior to being subject to a complete ban, the corporation and its subsidiaries—one of which had been prohibited by a different ruling—had tried to reverse the judgement through a lawsuit.
