The Biden Administration has added 30 more Chinese companies to its official list of firms whose products are banned because of alleged forced labour involving Uyghurs.

A notice by the Homeland Security Department on Monday (November 25) confirmed that food, metals and other imports from these companies has been banned in the US.

The new restrictions, covering a range of products from tomato paste and walnuts to gold and iron ore, are part of the federal government’s effort to prevent goods made with forced labour from entering the United States, the Federal Register posting said.

The companies were added to the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act Entity List, which restricts the import of goods tied to what the US describes as China’s human rights abuses and ongoing genocide in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

US authorities say Chinese authorities have established internment camps for Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in China’s western Xinjiang region. Beijing has denied any abuses.

The latest additions bring the total number of companies on the list to more than 100 since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in December 2021.

Some 23 of the newly added companies are in the agricultural sector. Others mine, smelt and process metallic materials including copper, lithium, beryllium, nickel, manganese and gold.

“Today’s enforcement actions make it clear – the United States will not tolerate forced labour in the goods entering our markets,” Robert Silvers, US Homeland Security under secretary for policy, said in a statement. “We urge companies to take responsibility, know their supply chains, and act ethically.”

Source: Asia Financial