The Trump administration Wednesday issued a sweeping ban on imports of cotton or tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region, saying it had reviewed the evidence of forced labor in the region. The move is the administration’s latest effort to punish China over what Western officials and human rights groups call the country’s campaign of repression against the Muslim Uighur population of Xinjiang, which has included the population’s mass detention in camps. The ban, which covers everything from cotton apparel to canned tomatoes, will affect a wide array of U.S. importers. Xinjiang accounts for almost a fifth of global cotton production, according to official figures and calculations by The Washington Post. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday it would immediately start detaining cotton and tomato products produced in the region, “based on information that reasonably indicates the use of detainee or prison labor and situations of forced labor.” The agency said it conducted an investigation that revealed working conditions including “debt bondage, restriction of movement, isolation, intimidation and threats, withholding of wages, and abusive living and working conditions.” The measure follows a more targeted ban the Trump administration issued in December against cotton products made by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which CBP called “an economic and paramilitary organization subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Unfortunately, tracking Chinese cotton through the international supply chain is pretty hard to do, but this ban is a start. India and the United States dominate cotton production, so the ban is symbolic. Banning Chinese products that violate Uighur’s human rights is the best thing Trump can do before he leaves office amid the endless chain of disasters and violations of his administration. America can source tomatoes and cotton from many other countries, including our own.
As individuals, and as a country, I think we should boycott all products made in China until China stops abusing the Muslim Uighur population, the people of Hong Kong, the people of Tibet, and the people of Taiwan. China should also end border incursions threatening Bhutan, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. We must include all products, especially electronic products if we want to be effective. Our consumer expenditures support the communist Chinese government. Enough of China’s inhumane racist bullying behavior toward their minority.