By Karen Freifeld and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States banned food, metals and other imports from about 30 more Chinese companies over alleged forced labor involving the Uyghurs, according to a government notice posted online on Friday.
The new restrictions, covering a range of products from tomato paste and walnuts to gold and iron ore, are part of the federal government’s effort to prevent goods made with forced labor from entering the United States, the Federal Register posting said.
The companies were added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, which restricts the import of goods tied to what the U.S. describes as China’s human rights abuses and ongoing genocide in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
U.S. authorities say Chinese authorities have established internment camps for Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in China’s western Xinjiang region. Beijing has denied any abuses.
The latest additions bring the total number of companies on the list to more than 100 since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in December 2021.
Twenty-three of the newly added companies are in the agricultural sector. Others mine, smelt and process metallic materials including copper, lithium, beryllium, nickel, manganese and gold.
“Today’s enforcement actions make it clear — the United States will not tolerate forced labor in the goods entering our markets,” Robert Silvers, U.S. Homeland Security under secretary for policy, said in a statement. “We urge companies to take responsibility, know their supply chains, and act ethically.”
