US bans new types of goods from China over allegations of forced labor

The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it would ban the import of goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese maker of artificial sweetener US bans new types of goods from China over allegations of forced labor WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it would ban the import of goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese maker of artificial sweetener, accusing both of being involved in the use of forced labor from China’s far-west region of Xinjiang. The additions to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act marks the first time a China-based steel company or aspartame sweetener business have been targeted by U.S. law enforcement, DHS said. “Today’s actions reaffirm our commitment to eliminating forced labor from U.S. supply chains and upholding our values of human rights for all,” said Robert Silvers, undersecretary of Homeland Security for policy. We will continue to identify entities across industries and hold accountable those who seek to profit from exploitation and abuse.” The federal law that President Joe Biden signed at the end of 2021 followed allegations of human rights abuses by Beijing against members of the ethnic Uyghur group and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. “That’s just a reflection of the fact that sadly, forced labor continues to taint all too many supply chains,” Silvers told a trade group in June when marking the two-year anniversary of the creation of the entity list. “So our enforcement net has actually been quite wide from an industry-sector perspective.” He said the law “changed the dynamic in terms of putting the onus on importers to know their own supply chains” and that its enforcement had showed that the U.S. could “do the right thing” without halting normal trade. Since June 2022, the entity list has grown to a total of 75 companies accused of using forced labor in Xinjiang or sourcing materials tied to that forced labor, Homeland Security said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-bans-new-types-goods-china-allegations-forced-114438163