SW News: As more Western governments crack down on corporations whose products and supply chains involve forced labor by predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, the acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) said on Tuesday at an event in Washington that the agency has already halted nearly $500 million worth of imports because they were made "in whole or in part" by Uyghur slave labor.

On March 14-15, during the Forced Labor Technical Expo, acting CBP commissioner Troy Miller said that 3,605 shipments worth $816 million from China had been rejected owing to suspected forced labor and announced the establishment of a new website that records shipments banned due to forced labor.

Miller commended the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) of December 2021, noting that the number of prohibited shipments this year had already surpassed nearly two-thirds of last year's level, with over $496 million worth of imports comprising 1,910 containers being barred prior to February 26.

He said that he expects a decrease in the number of seized shipments if the agency does a better job of striking a balance between stopping shipments related to forced labor and promptly processing legal goods.

"As required by law, we continue to check and detain commodities when we get reliable indications that they are related to Xinjiang," he stated, according to a report from Radio Free Asia. AnnMarie R. Highsmith, Executive Assistant Commissioner for CBP's Office of Trade, said that since the UFLPA went into effect a year ago, CBP has engaged with the sector over 150 times to give compliance information and support.

The UFLPA establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, or produced by certain entities, is prohibited by Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and that such goods, wares, articles, and merchandise are not entitled to entry into the United States.