The Trump Administration has led the world in calling attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s egregious human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and we’ve taken action to back up our rhetoric. Today, we continue this record as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued five new Withhold Release Orders (WRO) for certain goods produced in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
WROs prevent goods from being imported into the United States when made with forced labor. Upon issuing these WROs, CBP will detain shipments of goods produced in whole or in part by forced labor or prison labor, preventing those goods from being imported into the United States, in line with U.S. customs laws. These orders demonstrate that the world will not stand for the PRC’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang, which include subjecting individuals to forced labor and stripping them of their freedom and agency to choose how and where they work.
The recently issued WROs focus on products including cotton, apparel, computer parts, and hair products. These actions send a clear message to the PRC that it is time to end its practice of state-sponsored forced labor and to respect the human rights of all people.