The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced a list of imports Monday that are now prohibited from China's Xinjiang region due to the government's "illicit, inhumane, and exploitative practices of forced labor."
Axios reports banned imports from Xinjiang include cotton, apparel, hair products, computer parts, and other goods.
The order applies to all products made with labor from the Lop County No. 4 Vocational Skills Education and Training Center in Xinjiang; hair products made in the Lop County Hair Product Industrial Park in Xinjiang; apparel produced by Yili Zhuowan Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Baoding LYSZD Trade and Business Co., Ltd in Xinjiang; cotton produced and processed by Xinjiang Junggar Cotton and Linen Co., Ltd. in Xinjiang; and computer parts made by Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co., Ltd. in Anhui.
The move comes as the Trump administration is trying to bring attention to the human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has been persecuting Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities who live in the region.
"The Trump administration will not stand idly by and allow foreign companies to subject vulnerable workers to forced labor while harming American businesses that respect human rights and the rule of law," Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan said in a statement. "Today's withhold release orders send a clear message to the international community that we will not tolerate the illicit, inhumane, and exploitative practices of forced labor in U.S. supply chains.”
President Donald Trump told Axios in June he was holding off on sanctioning any officials and entities involved in the detention camps in the area as he negotiated a trade deal with Beijing.
But in July, the U.S. sanctioned Chinese Communist Party officials, the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) for their role in constructing and operating "re-education" camps, where over 1 million Uighurs have been detained.
According to Axios, the XPCC, a paramilitary organization, is involved in the production of one-third of China's cotton. In 2014, XPCC-controlled interests made up 17% of Xinjiang's economy.