US Lawmakers Seek Enhancements to USCMA to Stop Uyghur Forced Labor
Four U.S. lawmakers want the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to serve as a blueprint for similar legislation in Canada and Mexico, ensuring that North America can “truly” be a region free of goods produced with forced labor from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the persecution of Muslim minorities is widespread.
In a letter to the trade representatives of the United States, Canada and Mexico on Tuesday, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) urged for the escalation of regional efforts to shun products made with modern slavery, including more robust implementation of Article 23.6 of the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, which prevents goods denied in one country because of a determination of forced labor from being reexported to another.
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“We welcome the forced labor section of the USMCA and are pleased that each of the parties has acted to bring their laws into compliance with the agreement,” wrote the legislators, all current or former chairs of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China. “We are also pleased that a trilateral dialogue on forced labor has been established, as well as an agreement to share information about shipments denied at U.S. ports under the UFLPA import ban. However, there is more to be done.”
The Chinese government’s “horrendous behavior,” which Beijing has repeatedly and vociferously denied, has not diminished, the letter said. The UFLPA was also born from the recognition that additional mechanisms would be necessary to ensure Customs and Border Protection’s enforcement of the rebuttable presumption that all goods produced or mined, in whole or in part, in Xinjiang are the product of forced labor and therefore impermissible in the American market under Section 307 of the 1930 Tariff Act.
“We believe this approach is the most effective way to ensure that our countries are in full compliance with our obligations under Article 23.6 with regard to the PRC,” the lawmakers wrote, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “We note that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has identified tomatoes, cotton, polysilicon, aluminum, polyvinyl chloride and seafood as priority sectors for enforcement, the identification of which can aid in expending resources efficiently.”
The letter also calls for expanded cooperation under Article 23.6 so that more attention is paid to shipments that don’t originate from China but could include Uyghur forced labor in during manufacturing. It provided the example of a shipment of solar panels that had been denied entry into the United States under the UFLPA, subsequently imported into Canada and then submitted for reentry into the United States.
“The need for cooperation is heightened because most of the goods detained at U.S. ports under the UFLPA have originated not in the PRC, but rather in several Southeast Asian nations,” the letter said. “We urge parties to the USMCA to utilize existing information-sharing agreements to stop the transfer of forced labor products as well as identified reexport or transshipment schemes.”
The USMCA joint review currently tabled for July 2026 would be an apt opportunity to codify the suggestions and make North America a “forced labor import-free zone…that would bring credit to each of our countries and benefit all our citizens,” the legislators added.
The missive comes as Rubio and Merkley, together with Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), introduced Senate and House versions of a bill that would require the Treasury secretary to instruct the American heads of international financial institutions to oppose loans to projects that pose forced labor risks or involve a state-owned or heavily state-influenced entity, particularly from Xinjiang.
The so-called No Funds for Forced Labor Act would also require the institutions to explain how they vet projects for forced labor red flags, as well as track, mitigate and potentially reverse any risks. The Treasury, too, would have to generate a report that lists any projects that international financial institutions have greenlit but may involve forced labor within a year of the law’s enactment and annually for the next five years, along with any efforts undertaken by those companies’ executive directors to convince other countries to oppose projects that could utilize forced labor.
“Forced labor is a horrific practice witnessed worldwide,” Rubio said last week. “In China, the Chinese Communist Party continues with its grotesque campaign of genocide against Uyghurs and other minorities. We have a moral duty to ensure our nation isn’t tied to any purchases tainted with the forced labor of humans.”
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