Cotton tomato from China labor, US set to block imports from China over forced labor

 Cotton tomato from China labor, US set to block imports from China over forced labor.

The United States has announced it will ban the import of cotton and tomatoes from China's western Xinjiang province, alleging they are the product of forced labor by minority Muslim Uighurs in detention camps throughout the region.  

The ban will hit entire chains of goods, ranging from raw cotton to finished apparel to tomatoes in all their forms — pastes, powders and other products. Xinjiang leads Chinese production of both cotton and tomatoes. 

US President Donald Trump is expected to announce the new measures and five other bans related to forced labor abuses at the White House on Tuesday. It's the latest move in a yearslong battle between the world's two biggest economies.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which is required by law to detain shipments of goods suspected to have been produced with forced labor, told Reuters news agency that it would use "Withhold Release Orders"  to do so.

"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," said Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner. "We will continue to work our investigations to fill in those gaps."

CBP has alleged it has evidence of abuses "including debt bondage, unfree movement, isolation, intimidation and threats, withholding of wages, and abusive working and living conditions."

On Monday, US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus released a statement on Twitter calling for the Chinese Communist Party to end the practice of forced labor in Xinjiang. 

The United Nations, too, has claimed it has credible evidence that as many as 1 million Uighur Muslims may be in detention camps across Xinjiang. China has vehemently denied the accusation that it is operating reeducation camps, referring to them instead as vocational training facilities designed to combat terrorism.


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