U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Wednesday announced their Withhold Release Order (WRO) now applies to cotton products and tomato products produced in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region “based on information that reasonably indicates the use of detainee or prison labor and situations of forced labor.”
CBP said the actions it is basing the order on include “debt bondage, restriction of movement, isolation, intimidation and threats, withholding of wages, and abusive living and working conditions.”
CBP personnel at all U.S. ports of entry will detain cotton products and tomato products “grown or produced by entities operating in Xinjiang. The cotton products include apparel and textiles and “other goods made with cotton and tomatoes.”
CBP said importers are responsible for making sure products they import “do not exploit forced labor at any point in their supply chain, including the production or harvesting of the raw material.”
This is the second WRO that CBP has issued on products from Xinjiang issued in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.