ICYMI: SEIA’s Chinese Members’ Shipments Detained by CBP
WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) requested that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) add additional Chinese companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, subjecting them to the presumption that their goods are made with forced labor. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported in an exclusive that several Chinese solar manufacturers that are members of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)—Longi Green Energy Technology Co., Jinko Solar Co. and Trina Solar Co.—had their shipments detained by CBP. However, not one of these Chinese solar manufacturers are currently on the UFLPA Entity List despite being linked to forced labor.
Specifically, CPA requested that the following companies be added to the UFLPA Entity List:
- Xinjiang Sokesi New Materials Company (aka Sokos);
- Changji Jisheng New Building Materials Company;
- Xinte Energy Co. and its parent TBEA Co.;
- LONGi Green Energy Technology;
- Trina Solar Energy Company;
- JA Solar Holdings Company;
- JinkoSolar Co., Ltd.;
- GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Co.;
- Daqo New Energy Corp.; and
- East Hope Group.
Adding these Chinese companies to the UFLPA Entity List would bar their goods from entering the United States unless these companies can meet a very high evidentiary standard to prove otherwise. No amount of forced labor — even the smallest of inputs within a finished product — is permitted to enter U.S. ports of entry. Given that they produce and/or source their inputs from companies known to operate in Xinjiang, China that inflict these human rights abuses against the local Uyghur population, which then diffuse throughout their supply chains, CBP must take action to enforce our laws.
In June, CPA reiterated its call for CBP to strictly adhere to the law and stringently enforce the UFLPA by targeting all categories of goods and robustly expanding the lists called for by Congress, including the UFLPA Entity List. Despite silica-based products being included as one of the four high-priority sectors for enforcement, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) did not include any Chinese solar companies on the UFLPA Entity List, including the ones currently under investigation by the Commerce Department.
In the letter, CPA provides powerful evidence documenting how each of the Chinese companies have operations in Xinjiang Province or are known to have participated in the Chinese Communist Party’s forced labor programs.
“[T]hese companies should be added to the Entity List due to their operations in Xinjiang, their sourcing in Xinjiang, and/or complicity in Uyghur forced labor schemes,” the letter states. “These forced labor schemes may include but are not limited to, accounts of “re-education” initiatives, “poverty alleviation” programs, internment, forced labor, and/or state-sponsored labor transfers and “pairing programs” … The evidence [included in our letter] is clearly sufficient to conclude that these companies either operate within Xinjiang and/or benefit from Xinjiang forced labor that takes place elsewhere in their supply chain. They should be required to show by clear and convincing evidence that they do not utilize forced labor within the scope of the UFLPA.”
Read CPA’s full letter here.
