FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expanding its crackdown on Chinese imports suspected of using forced labor in their supply chains.
Products like steel, copper, lithium, caustic soda and red dates coming from China are now designated “high priority” for inspection and will come under the microscope by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in line with the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA).
Caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide, is an industrial chemical used in everything from aluminum production, paper-making, textiles and soap to petroleum refining. Red dates, a fruit grown in China, are often dried and used in teas and snacks.
“The use of slave labor is repulsive, and we will hold Chinese companies accountable for abuses and eliminate threats its forced labor practices pose to our prosperity,” Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
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As of Aug. 1, CBP has stopped 16,700 shipments, worth around $3.7 billion, for further examination under the UFLPA Congress passed in 2022. Of those, around 10,000 shipments worth almost $900 million have been turned away.
Some 144 entities are listed on an entity list under the UFLPA as using slave labor in their supply chains, in sectors like agriculture, batteries, electronics, food additives, metals, plastics and textiles.
President Donald Trump has already placed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum, arguing that foreign nations were flooding the U.S. market with cheap, subsidized products and jeopardizing national security by making the U.S. reliant on foreign sources for such products.
Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in 2022 with broad bipartisan support, targeting goods made wholly or in part with forced labor from China’s Xinjiang region.
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The law operates on a “rebuttable presumption,” meaning that any product connected to Xinjiang or listed entities is assumed to involve forced labor unless companies can prove otherwise. Rights groups and U.S. officials say the Chinese government has detained more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in camps, where many are subjected to indoctrination, surveillance and forced labor. Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them fabrications designed to contain China’s rise.
Initially focused on apparel, cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon used in solar panels, enforcement under UFLPA has steadily widened. DHS and CBP have been expanding the scope of “high-priority sectors” subject to strict scrutiny as evidence mounts of forced labor practices in a broader range of supply chains.
China dominates the global production of key materials like lithium, rare earths and industrial chemicals critical to the energy transition and defense supply chains. Washington’s targeting of these imports dovetails with broader efforts to “de-risk” supply chains by bringing more production to the U.S. or allied nations.
Trump recently expanded the deadline for triple-digits tariffs on China to allow more time for negotiation. In April, Trump announced 145% tariffs on China, and Beijing retaliated with 145%. After the two sides began to negotiate, the U.S. pared back its tariffs to 30% and China rolled back to 10%.
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