Shipping containers stacked on the dockside in the port of Mobile, Alabama, in the US. Picture: ISTOCK
The move, which could have a sweeping effect on companies involved in selling textiles and apparel to the US, is among several the Trump administration has been working on in its final weeks to harden the US position against China, making it more difficult for president-elect Joe Biden to ease US-China tensions.
“The cheap cotton goods you may be buying for family and friends during this season of giving — if coming from China — may have been made by slave labour in some of the most egregious human rights violations existing today in the modern world,” he told a news conference.The UN cites what it says are credible reports that 1-million Muslims held in camps have been put to work. China denies mistreating Uighurs and says the camps are vocational training centres needed to fight extremism.
“It really depends on how much proof they want. If they want real proof that this cotton has not been used, that’s going to be extremely difficult,” he added.