U.S. bans all cotton, tomatoes coming from China’s Xinjiang region

WASHINGTON >> The Trump administration Wednesday announced a ban on imports of cotton and tomatoes from the Xinjiang area of China, as well as all products made with those materials, citing human rights violations and the widespread use of forced labor in the region.

The measure could have sweeping implications for makers of apparel and food products, many of whom have sought to distance themselves from atrocities in Xinjiang but have struggled to ensure their supply chains are free of all raw materials from the region. The area is a major source of cotton, coal, chemicals, sugar, tomatoes and polysilicon, a component in solar panels.

The ban allows customs officials to stop imports that they suspect are made with raw materials from Xinjiang, regardless of whether they travel into the United States directly from China or through another country.

China has carried out a vast crackdown on predominantly Muslim minority groups in the far west Xinjiang region, including detaining 1 million or more Uighurs, Kazakhs and other groups in camps and closely surveilling the rest of the population, human rights groups say.

Forced labor also appears to be widespread in the region. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said an investigation found numerous indicators of forced labor in Xinjiang, including debt bondage, restriction of movement, withheld wages, and abusive living and working conditions. The Chinese government denies the existence of forced labor in Xinjiang, saying all arrangements are voluntary.

Scott Nova, the executive director of the Workers Rights Consortium, a labor rights group, said the ban “will redefine how the apparel industry — from Amazon to Nike to Zara — sources its materials and labor.”

“Any global apparel brand that is not either out of Xinjiang already or plotting a very swift exit is courting legal and reputational disaster,” Nova added.

The Workers Rights Consortium estimates that American brands and retailers import more than 1.5 billion garments that use Xinjiang materials every year, representing more than $20 billion in retail sales.

The order will “send a crystal-clear message to the trade community: know your supply chains,” said Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Importers are required to ensure that their own supply chains are free from forced labor, he added. “It’s the law.”