USA shelves broad import bans on cotton and tomato and announces narrower bans on products from specific entities
“U.S. pulls back from broad import bans for cotton, tomatoes from China's Xinjiang”, 15 September 2020
The Trump administration… shelved plans for a broad import ban on cotton and tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region while announcing narrower bans on products from five specific entities.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acting Deputy Secretary Kenneth Cuccinelli said the new “Withhold Release Orders” (WROs) on cotton, textiles, apparel, hair products and computer parts are aimed at combating China’s use of forced labor by detained Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
He told reporters on a conference call that the administration was conducting more legal analysis of the region-wide import bans.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials told Reuters… that they had prepared the broader bans on cotton, cotton textiles and tomatoes, among China’s biggest commodity exports, along with the orders announced…
CBP acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said… the agency’s investigations into the region-wide orders were continuing.
Two people familiar with the Trump administration’s internal deliberations said that concerns about the broad orders and their effect on supply chains were raised by officials…
The Withhold Release Orders allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection to detain shipments based on suspicion of forced-labor involvement under long-standing U.S. laws to combat human trafficking, child labor and other human rights abuses…
DHS said the block on products from Xinjiang entering the United States applied to all products made with labor from the Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center; hair products from the Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park; apparel produced by Yili Zhuowan Garment Manufacturing and Baoding LYSZD Trade and Business Co; Cotton produced and processed by Xinjiang Junggar Cotton and Linen Co Ltd; and computer parts made by Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co Ltd.
Neither Xinjiang Junggar nor Baoding LYSZD were aware of the orders when asked on Tuesday. Yili Zhuowan declined to comment…
[Also referred to Lacoste]