WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officials have prepared orders to block imports of cotton and tomato products
from China’s western region of Xinjiang over accusations of forced labor,
though a formal announcement has been delayed.
A Trump administration announcement, initially expected on
Tuesday, has been put off until later this week because of “scheduling issues,”
an agency spokesman said.
The cotton and tomato bans, and those on five other imports,
over alleged Xinjiang forced-labor abuses, would be an unprecedented move by
the agency, likely to stoke tension between the world’s two largest economies.
The “Withhold Release Orders” let the agency 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.
President Donald Trump’s administration is ratcheting up
pressure on China over its treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, where the
United Nations cites credible reports as saying 1 million Muslims held in camps
have been put to work.
China denies mistreatment of the Uighurs and says the camps
are vocational training centers needed to fight extremism.
In Beijing on Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesman
dismissed the orders as a pretext to target Chinese firms.
“I think the U.S. cares nothing about human rights,” Zhao
Lijian said in response to a query.
“It is only using this as a pretext to oppress Chinese
companies, destabilize Xinjiang and slander China’s Xinjiang policy,” he told a
daily news briefing.
China will take all necessary measures to safeguard its
companies’ legitimate rights and interests, he added.
CBP official Brenda Smith told Reuters the effective import bans
would cover the entire supply chains for cotton, from yarn to textiles and
apparel, as well as tomatoes, tomato paste and other regional exports.
“We have reasonable, but not conclusive, evidence that there
is a risk of forced labor in supply chains related to cotton textiles and
tomatoes coming out of Xinjiang,” Smith, an executive assistant commissioner,
said in an interview.
“We will continue to work our investigations to fill in
those gaps.”
U.S. law requires the agency to detain shipments in cases of
forced labor accusations, such as those from non-government bodies, she said.
The bans could have far-reaching effects for U.S. retailers
and apparel producers, as well as food manufacturers. China produces about a
fifth of the world’s cotton, most of it from Xinjiang. It is also the world’s
largest importer of the fibre, including from the United States.
The China Cotton Association, a trade body, declined to
comment on Wednesday.
A Beijing-based cotton trader said the impact may be limited
as China imports about 2 million tonnes a year each of cotton and cotton yarn,
which may be enough to make textiles for the United States without Xinjiang
cotton. Xinjiang’s output is about 5 million tonnes.
“If Xinjiang cotton goes to the domestic industry and
non-Western markets, the impact may be limited, it can probably still be
digested,” he said.
In the short term, it could also boost cotton imports by
China, he added.
Cotton futures CCFcv1 on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange
fell 4.5% to 12,365 yuan ($1,804.90) per tonne on Wednesday, though the fall
was largely driven by broader macroeconomic factors, said Zhang Lei, an analyst
at Zhongyuan Futures.
Graphic - Top cotton producers, consumers, importers,
exports & stockholders: here
‘ABUSIVE WORKING AND LIVING CONDITIONS’
Legislation proposed by U.S. lawmakers in March would
effectively assume that all goods produced in Xinjiang were made with forced
labor and require certification they were not.
In a July advisory, Washington warned of “reputational,
economic, and legal risks” to companies doing business in Xinjiang, or with
entities using Xinjiang labor.
The State Department also said it sent a letter to top
American firms, such as Walmart Inc (WMT.N), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Amazon.com
Inc (AMZN.O), warning them over risks from supply chains linked with human
rights abuses in Xinjiang.
In a draft announcement seen by Reuters, the CBP said it
identified forced-labor indicators involving the cotton, textile and tomato
supply chains, “including debt bondage, unfree movement, isolation,
intimidation and threats, withholding of wages, and abusive working and living
conditions.”
The orders would block cotton from the Xinjiang Production
and Construction Corps, and apparel from Yili Zhuowan Garment Manufacturing Co
Ltd and Baoding LYSZD Trade and Business Co Ltd., which the agency says use
prison labor from Chinese government administered “re-education” internment
camps.
They would also block imports of items from the Lop County
Industrial Park and the Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and
Training Center, following the July 1 detention of products from Lop County
Meixin Hair Product Co..
The CBP orders would also block imports of computer parts
from Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co Ltd, based in Anhui province.
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