US bars imports from 43 more cos over China’s alleged forced labour involving Uyghurs

WASHINGTON/ BEIJING: The United States on Friday banned imports from 43 more Chinese companies over alleged rights abuses of Uyghur and other minority groups, targeting firms in supply chains from electronics to food and metals, a government notice showed.

The companies were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, which creates a presumption that goods made wholly or partly by listed entities are made with forced labour and cannot enter the United States unless importers can prove otherwise. Beijing has regularly dismissed accusations of forced labour and other abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the region of Xinjiang.

The noticepublished by the US Department of Homeland Security marks the first time companies have been added to the list under the Trump administration. It brings the number of mentioned entities to 187 from 144 — the largest single expansion since the act creating the list was signed into law in 2021.

China’s Commerce Ministry on Saturday condemned the US action as an unfounded unilateral sanction, which it said had come just a day after trade officials from both countries had what it described as a constructive video call.

China would take “necessary measures” to protect its companies, the ministry added without going into more detail. Four companies were listed over what the US government said was their work with Xinjiang authorities to recruit, transfer or receive Uyghurs and other persecuted groups.

The Federal Register notice said the other 41 were added because they source materials from Xinjiang or from entities linked to government labour programs there. “Today’s action by the Trump administration strengthens America’s economy against products made with slave labor,” Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said in a statement.

China’s embassy in Washington called such allegations “a lie” on Friday and said Chinese law prohibits forced labour and that workers in Xinjiang are free to choose their occupations.

INCLUDES COMPANIES WITH US SALES LINKS

The listings include suppliers of materials used in electric-vehicle and energy-storage batteries. Reuters contacted 10 of the newly listed companies for comment but none responded outside normal business hours.

Those included SDIC Xinjiang Lithium Industry, which makes lithium carbonate, and its parent, SDIC Xinjiang Luobupo Potash, which were listed over their sourcing of lithium and potassium from brine at Xinjiang’s Lop Nur Salt Lake. Xinjiang Tianhongji Technology, which makes materials for lithium- and sodium-ion batteries, was also added. The US notice said it sources petroleum coke, anthracite and asphalt from Xinjiang to make battery materials.

Hunan Aihua Group, a Chinese maker of aluminum electrolytic capacitors used in consumer electronics, industrial equipment, vehicles and renewable-energy systems, was listed because the US government said it sources materials including chemical foil from a production base in Xinjiang.

Aihua sells capacitors under the AiSHi brand and has a North American sales office in Glen Allen, Virginia, according to its website.