Two U.S. congresswomen made a bipartisan call for companies to take action to comply with a newly operative U.S. law intended to block the import of goods made with Uyghur forced labor, the Wall Street Journal reported. The remarks underscored congressional concern over enforcement of a law that presumes that goods with ties to Xinjiang, the home region of China’s Uyghur minority, have been made with forced labor. The law, which went into effect last month, gives U.S. Customs and Border Protection the power to stop their import. Reps. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) and Young Kim (R-Calif.) on Friday said more needs to be done to stop the trade in goods whose production might involve human-rights violations, and expressed impatience with companies that say it is difficult to comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. “We shouldn’t feel sorry for them, that they have to re-examine their supply chains,” Rep. Wexton said. “It’s time for them to do it. We need to just make sure that we hold them accountable.” Many businesses with supply chains linked to China have been closely following the early enforcement of the law, which is aimed at what U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken termed “crimes against humanity” unfolding there. The Chinese government has criticized the law as being premised on “vicious lies” and has pressured companies based there not to cooperate. Read more (subscription required).
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