The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently added two Chinese companies to its list of firms that are prohibited from exporting their products to the China policies”>United States
. This action is part of a broader effort by the DHS to safeguard U.S. supply chains from forced labor practices in China’s Xinjiang region.Robert Silvers, the undersecretary for Policy at DHS, who oversees the federal task force responsible for creating the entity list, stated that these actions demonstrate their commitment to eliminating forced labor and upholding human rights values.
Silvers emphasized that no sector is exempt from scrutiny and that entities across industries will be identified and held accountable for profiting from exploitation and abuse.
One of the companies targeted is Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Baowu Steel Group, which is known as the world’s largest steel producer. DHS officials allege that this company has repeatedly participated in transferring and receiving ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, where Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been subjected to mass detention and surveillance by the Chinese regime.
The other company added to the list is Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co., Ltd., an artificial sweetener manufacturer based in Jiangsu province. Information reviewed by U.S. officials indicated that this company sourced materials, including aspartame, a non-nutritive sweetener, from Xinjiang.
This marks the first time that a ste