US: Chinese Goods Made by Forced Labor Harder to Detect

Read also: In “New Cold War with China”, Germany Demands Europe and US Stand Together

Separately on Thursday, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it had detained the import of 32 cartons of women's leather gloves from Xinjiang on the suspicion they were made with forced labor.

CBP has issued 13 orders to block Chinese goods it suspected were made with forced labor in fiscal year 2020, including eight on goods from the East Asian country.

Some activists have asked for a broader detention order on goods from Xinjiang, but Richmond declined to say whether he was in favor of it.

Read also: US Imposes Trade Sanctions on Chinese Companies as Muslim Abuse Complaints Heat Up

"We obviously want to consider the merits of that, but what we want to do as the United States is send a clear message that products that are made with forced labor are not going to be allowed to come into the United States," he said.

A committee of lawmakers in Britain on Friday wrote to several leading brands to ask about their sourcing of Chinese goods and whether they were profiting from the forced labor of Uighurs in Xinjiang.

(Writer: Christine Murray, Thomson Reuters Foundation | Editor: Ellen Wulfhorst) 

Source: https://news.trust.org/item/20201016155823-9936h