House lawmakers probe orders limiting Chinese goods made by forced labor

摘要

Posted 9/18/2020. Democrats and human-rights advocates on Thursday expressed disappointment with the Trump administration's move to ban imports from specific companies believed to be using forced labor in China's Xinjiang province, while apparel industry representatives testifying at the same hearing defended targeted actions rather than a region-wide ban. "I would characterize the administration's response to the credible and disgusting violations of human rights happening in the Xinjiang region as pathetic," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) said during a House Ways & Means trade subcommittee hearing. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol on Monday issued five withhold-release orders designed to block the import of goods made by forced labor from specific companies in Xinjiang. However, the Trump administration did not issue a broader region-wide order blocking all cotton and tomato products from the area. Witnesses from AFL-CIO, Campaign for Uyghurs, Worker Rights Consortium and the Center for Strategic and International Studies testified in support of a region-wide WRO, contending that more limited actions are less transparent, making it nearly impossible to know if shipments are being detained.