The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is adding 26 China-based cotton traders and warehouse facilities to its Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, saying there’s reasonable evidence that the firms source or sell cotton from China’s Xinjiang region.

It’s a move that matters to businesses in the promotional products industry and other sectors whose supply chain in any way may touch these companies. When a business is on the UFLPA Entity List, it means their materials, products or other products/materials made with what they’ve provided are prohibited from entering the United States.

Xinjiang cotton

In December 2021, Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the U.S. It banned Xinjiang cotton from being imported into the United States or used in products imported into the nation.

The basis of the ban, according to proponents, is that there’s widespread evidence of Uyghurs and related people groups being forced into slave labor and suffering other human rights abuses in Xinjiang province, with some alleging that genocide is occurring. The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority, primarily of the Muslim faith, who human rights advocates say are being targeted by Beijing.

Progress, But Still “Only a Fraction”

With the newly added companies, 65 entities have been placed on the UFLPA Entity List. This helps “responsible companies conduct due diligence so that, together, we can keep the products of forced labor out of our country,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in the statement.

Certain Congressional leaders applauded DHS’s move.

“We enthusiastically endorse DHS’s action to nearly double the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act’s ‘Entity List’ – while recognizing that the current list remains only a fraction of the businesses complicit in forced labor,” Representative Chris Smith and Senator Jeff Merkley, chairs of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said in a statement.

Study Finds Xinjiang Cotton in 19% of Apparel Sold in US and Abroad https://t.co/AC4sh8t0DI

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) May 17, 2024

Federal authorities have taken enforcement of the UFLPA seriously. Still, rooting Xinjiang cotton out of products is difficult, even for those committed to doing so. The region produces the vast majority of cotton made in China and has traditionally supplied more than 20% of total world supply.

As such, cotton from Xinjiang is still very much present in products on the market, according to some critics. A study from the natural resource analytics firm Stratum Reservoir and DNA analytics lab Applied DNA Sciences has found that banned cotton from Xinjiang was present in 19% of sampled apparel sold between February 2023 and March 2024 in the U.S. and abroad.

New Listed Companies & China’s Reaction

Authorities in China fervently deny any wrongdoing in Xinjiang. They’ve characterized the UFLPA and criticisms from the West as politically motivated attempts to undermine China’s creditability and economic expansion.

“The so-called ‘Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act’ is just an instrument of a few U.S. politicians to disrupt stability in Xinjiang and contain China’s development,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. said.

In a statement, the DHS said many companies just named to the Entity List aren’t based in Xinjiang. However, they source cotton from the province. The 26 newly listed China-based firms are:

• Binzhou Chinatex Yintai Industrial Co., Ltd.
• China Cotton Group Henan Logistics Park Co., Ltd., Xinye Branch
• China Cotton Group Nangong Hongtai Cotton Co., Ltd.
• China Cotton Group Shandong Logistics Park Co., Ltd.
• China Cotton Group Xinjiang Cotton Co.
• Fujian Minlong Warehousing Co., Ltd.
• Henan Yumian Group Industrial Co., Ltd.
• Henan Yumian Logistics Co., Ltd. (formerly known as 841 Cotton Transfer Warehouse)
• Hengshui Cotton and Linen Corporation Reserve Library
• Heze Cotton and Linen Co., Ltd.
• Heze Cotton and Linen Economic and Trade Development Corporation (also known as Heze Cotton and Linen Trading Development General Company)
• Huangmei Xiaochi Yinfeng Cotton (formerly known as Hubei Provincial Cotton Corporation’s Xiaochi Transfer Reserve)
• Hubei Jingtian Cotton Industry Group Co., Ltd.
• Hubei Qirun Investment Development Co., Ltd.
• Hubei Yinfeng Cotton Co., Ltd.
• Hubei Yinfeng Warehousing and Logistics Co., Ltd.
• Jiangsu Yinhai Nongjiale Storage Co., Ltd.
• Jiangsu Yinlong Warehousing and Logistics Co., Ltd.
• Jiangyin Lianyun Co. Ltd. (also known as Jiangyin Intermodal Transport Co. and Jiangyin United Transport Co.)
• Jiangyin Xiefeng Cotton and Linen Co., Ltd.
• Juye Cotton and Linen Station of the Heze Cotton and Linen Corporation,
• Lanxi Huachu Logistics Co., Ltd.
• Linxi County Fangpei Cotton Buying and Selling Co., Ltd.
• Nanyang Hongmian Logistics Co., Ltd. (also known as Nanyang Red Cotton Logistics Co., Ltd.)
• Wugang Zhongchang Logistics Co., Ltd.
• Xinjiang Yinlong Agricultural International Cooperation Co.