Washington, DC – According to reporting by Bloomberg News, Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion giant with $22.7B in revenue in 2022, may be exporting products to the United States made with forced Uyghur labor. In response, U.S. Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and August Pfluger (R-TX) of the House Committee on Homeland Security are leading an effort urging U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to clarify their efforts to track global supply chains and enforce compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
The Bloomberg News report found that laboratory testing conducted in 2022 determined “garments shipped to the U.S. by Shein were made with cotton from China’s Xinjiang region… Citing what the U.S. State Department has called ‘horrific abuses’ against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, federal officials banned the importation of cotton and other products from the region last year; European officials have proposed a similar ban.”
With Shein’s individual shipments direct to consumers falling below the $800 threshold for reporting requirements to CBP, the lawmakers alerted the agency in a letter that “Shein…may be continuing to export apparel to the U.S. containing cotton from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.”
“The Uyghurs,” the lawmakers wrote, “are a predominantly Muslim religious minority group who are routinely repressed by the Chinese Communist Party, including systematic physical abuses, arbitrary and discriminatory detention, and serious human rights violations. While Xinjiang produces about 84 percent of China’s cotton, the region’s cotton industry has come under heavy scrutiny due to the use of forced labor.”
Representatives Titus and Pfluger were joined on the letter by Representatives Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Jake Ellzey (R-TX), Mike Flood (R-NE), Mike Garcia (R-CA), Mark Green (R-TN), Michael Guest (R-MS), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Dan Kildee (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Brian Mast (R-FL), Max Miller (R-OH), Cory Mills (R-FL), Zach Nunn (R-IA), John Rose (R-TN), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), David Valadao (R-CA), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), and Ryan Zinke (R-MT).
Original source can be found here.
