President Biden has signed a new bill that heavily restricts imports from entering the USA from a region of China known for using forced labor.
At the end of 2021, the Senate voted unanimously for a new bill called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, indicating unanimous bipartisan support to prevent products from entering the U.S. and international supply chains that are made using forced labor by persecuted minority groups in China. The USA is the first nation to do so. On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed the bill into law.
The newly-signed bill titled H.R. 1155, along with H.R. 6256, bans all imports into the USA from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China and imposes sanctions on foreign individuals responsible for forced labor and human rights abuses that have been carried out in that part of the country.
The successful passing of the bill was a victory for lawmakers and everyone in favor of an aggressive human rights measure that deals with the products of forced labor and the role that consumers and the American people play. However, the bill did face strong opposition in corporate lobbying campaigns from businesses who felt that the bill was too heavy-handed and would have disastrous effects on global supply chains.
H.R. 1155 and H.R. 6256 are likely the most powerful legislative responses from any government so far regarding China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority group, a predominantly Muslim minority group native to the Northwestern part of China. China’s actions against the Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang were declared a genocide by Michael Pompeo on the final full day of the Trump presidency. President Biden further embraced this outlook and formalized it into official U.S. government assessments.
The new bill would create extremely high standards for the importation into the United States of all products made in the Xinjiang region of China, banning all imports made wholly or partly by forced labor. Companies who still wish to import products from the Xinjiang region must undergo rigorous assessments and prove to customs officials that their products are free of forced labor.
The Political Environment of the Bill
Senator Marco Rubio, who was one of the authors of the bill, said in a public statement:
“Many companies have already taken steps to clean up their supply chains… They should have no concerns about this law. For those who have not done that, they’ll no longer be able to continue to make Americans — every one of us, frankly — unwitting accomplices in the atrocities, in the genocide that’s being committed by the Chinese Communist Party.”
The strong bipartisan support of the bill indicated a unified voice calling for action regarding the human rights abuses conducted by the Chinese Communist Party. Some of the human rights abuses experienced by minority groups in the Xinjiang region include forced sterilization, torture, sexual abuse, and the holding of over 1 million people in internment camps which the Chinese government referred to as “vocational training programs.”
An unofficial UK-based tribunal has found China guilty of committing genocide against Uyghurs and other minority groups. Sir Geoffrey Nice, who chaired the Uyghur Tribunal hearings in the U.K., said that the panel was satisfied that China had implemented “a deliberate, systematic and concerted policy to bring about the long-term reduction of Uyghur and other ethnic minority populations.” The tribune believed that senior Chinese officials, including the Chinese president Xi Jinping, bore primary responsibility.
While these findings do not have any legal weight and are not binding, they are just one example of many around the world as nations continue to draw attention to the behavior of China and contribute to a growing body of evidence.
Reports as far back as 2017 show China’s forced detention of over a million Uyghurs, described by the Chinese government as “counter-extremism centers.” An additional million or more were forced into similar facilities the following year. Secretly leaked documents show that rather than acting from a position of counter-terrorism, the treatment of the Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in the Western region of China constituted a deliberate and planned strategy to erase minority languages, cultures, and ways of life.
While many lawmakers on Capitol Hill were outspoken about what was happening in Xinjiang before the bill’s drafting, progress on drafting and finalizing the bill was stalled several times. Due to the content of the legislation, officials and companies who opposed it were not going to voice their opposition publicly. However, the fact the bill assumes all exports coming out of the Xinjiang region are connected to forced labor and that companies must prove otherwise created real opposition and alarm among individuals and companies with existing interests in the area. Other opponents to the bill believed that the bill’s scope was simply too broad.
Lobbyists who worked to try and “water down” aspects of the bill included Coca-Cola, Apple, Nike, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, all of which have supply chains connected or dependent on Western China and the Xinjiang region. While these and other lobbyists are firmly against forced labor and human rights violations, their concerns for their supply chains were supported since the Xinjiang region is a strong producer of raw materials such as cotton, sugar, coal, tomatoes, polysilicon, and more.
It is estimated that the Xinjiang region accounts for as much as 85% of China’s cotton production and 20% of global production. That means 1 in 5 garments containing cotton sold worldwide could be linked back to Xinjiang, indicating the considerable impact this bill may have on the apparel industry’s supply chain. Xinjiang also produces approximately 45% of the world’s polysilicon, an essential material used for making solar panels and smartphones.
Industry experts and some administration officials feared that the bill’s broad scope would hurt the already weak polysilicon supply chain in the USA and create significant hurdles for the nation in achieving its climate goals.
To make matters even more complicated, the Chinese government has started boycotting American and Western brands in retaliation over the limits imposed by the bill regarding the importation of cotton from the Xinjiang region into the USA. International brands such as H&M and Adidas have been included in the boycott after making their own stands against the treatment of the Uyghur minorities in China by sourcing cotton from elsewhere.
American brands, such as Nike, have had their names blurred on Chinese state television, lost several Chinese celebrities from their advertising campaigns, and been the subject of attacks on social media. A total consumer boycott, led by Chinese state media organizations, could potentially prevent international companies who stand against the use of forced labor and unethical practices from maintaining access to the world’s largest consumer market.
The Final Version of the Bill
In the face of severe backlash from the Chinese government and the Chinese consumer market, lawmakers worked together to push the bill through, and President Biden successfully signed it off.
The bill’s final version maintains its strict standard for importation from the Xinjiang region, forcing companies to prove that forced labor does not contribute to the materials and products in their supply chain. Unlike the previous versions of the bill, the final version does not include an obligation for companies to report on a wide range of activities carried out in Xinjiang, past or present. The original reporting requirement of the bill was opposed by the Senate Finance Committee and large companies with existing supply chains in the Xinjiang region.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act wasn’t the first time the White House cracked down on products connected to forced labor in the Xinjiang region. In June 2021, the Biden administration ordered a complete ban of solar panel products from a select list of Chinese manufacturers known for using forced labor in the Xinjiang region.
Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley, who was one of the co-sponsors of the legislation, said in a press release after the bill passed the Senate that:
“The United States must send a resounding and unequivocal message against genocide and slave labor wherever these evils appear.” “Getting this bill over the finish line and into law ensures that American consumers and businesses can buy goods without inadvertent complicity in China’s horrific human rights abuses. As the Chinese government tries to whitewash their genocide and claim a propaganda victory with the upcoming Olympics, this legislation sends a powerful, bipartisan message that the United States will not turn a blind eye.”
It is difficult to predict the future for the USA and world supply chains when there is so much reliance on Chinese markets across multiple industries. Currently, the United States is a leader in preventing global industries and consumers from inadvertently supporting human rights violations. The creation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and future pieces of legislation may eventuate in response to forced labor in the global supply chain.
