US to block cotton from China region targeted in crackdown

US government anunced Wednesday that it will halt imports of cotton and tomatoes from Uighur region of China in its most sweeping action yet to pressure Communist Party to stop a campaign against ethnic mirities. Officials said Customs and Border Protection will use its authority to block products suspected of being produced with forced labour in Xinjiang region of rthwest China.

region is a major global supplier of cotton, so order could have significant effects on global commerce. Trump administration has already blocked imports from individual companies linked to forced labour in Xinjiang. Some manufacturers have criticized use of a region-wide order, arguing it can be hard to ensure tainted raw materials do t enter supply chain.

That is especially true with Chinese cotton that is used to make clothing for export in or countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. China has imprisoned more than 1 million people, including Uighurs and or mostly Muslim ethnic groups, in a vast network of concentration camps.

People have been subjected to torture, forced sterilization and political indoctrination in addition to forced labor as part of an assimilation campaign in a region whose inhabitants are ethnically and culturally distinct from Han Chinese majority. China denies allegations of rights abuses and forced labor, saying it aims only to raise incomes among mirities and stamp out radicalism.

US action is latest, and most sweeping, attempt to pressure China to end campaign. Canada and British government both recently said y too would take steps to stop goods tainted by forced labor from entering ir countries. Customs and Border Protection has in past targeted entire product lines and regions with import bans, including issuing an order against cotton from Turkmenistan in 2018 and gold from artisanal mines in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019.