By Eric Martin and Nick Wadhams
- State Department calls it a ‘corporate and consumer boycott’
- U.S. making effort to highlight treatment of Uyghur minority
The U.S. accused China of a state-run social media campaign and boycott against companies that refuse to use cotton from the Xinjiang region over concern the crop is produced with forced labor by Muslim-minority Uyghurs.
China has targeted American, European and Japanese businesses that are avoiding Xinjiang cotton, State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters in a briefing on Friday. She said that amounts to a state-run “corporate and consumer boycott.”
The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, has demanded that President Joe Biden also block imports of solar products containing the metal polysilicon from Xinjiang on the grounds that it may involve forced labor.
In January, the U.S. began barring entry of all cotton products and tomatoes from Xinjiang. The order also applies to products manufactured in other countries that use cotton and tomatoes from the region.
The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, has demanded that President Joe Biden also block imports of solar products containing the metal polysilicon from Xinjiang on the grounds that it may involve forced labor.
Πηγή: Bloomberg