"US bans 26 textile firms over alleged links to forced labour in China", 19 May 2024

The US administration on Thursday added 26 textile entities like traders and warehouses to the forced labour entity list, for having an alleged link with Uyghur labour camps from China’s Xinjiang, Nikkei Asia reported.

This latest decision will now ban products associated with these entities from entering the US market, the same report also claimed that this step will also increase pressure on the supply chains of the US market.

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The Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) generally bars imports sourced “wholly or in part” in Xinjiang, a major cotton-supplying region. Enforcement has led to around USD 3 billion in shipments being flagged at the border since the act took effect in June 2022. Hence all the products coming from that region are considered to be a product of forced labour until there is clear evidence that proves otherwise.

The Entity List designates specific companies whose products, or components of other companies’ finished products, are to be blocked from entering the country.

Authorities have flagged extra scrutiny for certain sectors, such as cotton, tomatoes, and polysilicon, a key raw material for solar panels, the report by Nikkei Asia claimed.

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