The Trump administration expanded economic pressure on China’s western region of Xinjiang, banning cotton imports from a powerful Chinese quasi-military organization that it says uses the forced labor of detained Uighur Muslims.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said on Wednesday its “Withhold Release Order” would ban cotton and cotton products from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), one of China’s largest producers.
The move, which China said was based on a fabrication, is the latest by the Trump administration in its final weeks to harden the U.S. position against Beijing, making it more difficult for President-elect Joe Biden to ease U.S.-China tensions.
The ban against XPCC, which produced here 30% of China’s cotton in 2015 could have a sweeping effect on companies globally involved in selling textiles and apparel to the United States.