Forty-three companies were added to the American forced labour import list on Friday, and the new names are gold, aluminium, copper and coal as much as cotton
The list is now 187 entities long.
The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, an interagency body chaired by the Department of Homeland Security, filed a notice on Friday morning adding 43 entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Two of the 43 appear on two of its four sub-lists, so 45 entries were created. The notice supersedes the version of the list published in the Federal Register on 15 January 2025. Two existing entries were corrected to reflect name changes, one of them a polysilicon producer listed on the first day the list existed.
Listing has one consequence and it is a hard one. Goods mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part by a listed entity are presumed to be made with forced labour, and Customs and Border Protection is required to refuse them entry under 19 U.S.C. 1307 unless the presumption is rebutted.
What the new names are
Cotton and polysilicon built this list. The additions reach a good deal further.
The notice states that the United States Government has reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable information, that Shandong Gold Mining, its smelting arm and its subsidiary Xinjiang Jinchuan source gold from Xinjiang, and it describes Xinjiang Jinchuan as the operator of the largest single gold mine in the region. Baiyin Nonferrous Group and its subsidiary Xinjiang Baiyin are listed on copper and molybdenum. Tianshan Aluminum Group is listed with seven named subsidiaries producing aluminium, aluminium foil and carbon. TBEA, a maker of power transformers and high-purity aluminium, is listed on aluminium, and its subsidiary Xinjiang Tianchi Energy on coal.
The older commodities are still there. Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group and its textile subsidiary are listed on cotton. Chacha Food, a snack producer the notice says exports to nearly 50 countries, is listed on red dates, seeds and nuts. Baoji Jucheng Titanium is listed on titanium sourced through a Xinjiang producer.
What the notice is, and what it is not
Every determination in it belongs to the task force.
The formula the notice uses throughout is that the United States Government has reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable information, and that the FLETF therefore determined that the activities satisfy the statutory criterion. Additions are decided by majority vote of the member agencies, which include the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the Departments of Labor, State, Justice, the Treasury and Commerce. A listed entity may ask to be removed by writing to the chair with supporting information, and may ask for a meeting. The decision on a removal request is not appealable, though the task force will consider a new request accompanied by new information.
This publication has not sought comment from any of the entities named above, and none of the descriptions here is a finding by any court. The notice itself adds that the list should not be read as an exhaustive account of the practices it describes.
