US restricts Chinese apparel and tech products, citing forced labour

The Trump administration on Monday announced new restrictions on imports of apparel, hair products and technology goods from certain Chinese companies, saying those entities had used forced labour in the Xinjiang region to make their products, reports The New York Times.

The measure would allow US customs agents to detain and potentially destroy goods brought into the country that are made by the named companies or entities in Xinjiang, a far western region where China has detained as many as 1 million Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in internment camps and prisons.

While the move is likely to further inflame tensions between the United States and China, it stops short of a more sweeping ban on cotton and tomatoes produced in Xinjiang that the administration was poised to announce last week. That measure had alarmed apparel companies that use Chinese cotton and spurred concern among some administration officials, who were worried it could hurt economic relations with China and prompt possible retaliation on US-grown cotton, according to people familiar with the internal discussions.

In a briefing with reporters Monday, officials with the Department of Homeland Security said that the broader measure was undergoing further legal analysis, and that more announcements could soon follow.