Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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US Fines Company for Goods Made With Suspected Forced Labor in China

Rong Shi

   WASHINGTON - Earlier this month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
   (CBP) issued its first penalty for goods made with forced labor under
   the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.

   The agency levied a fine of $575,000 against the Chinese entity
   PureCircle, a company accused of using prison inmates in China to
   produce the food sweetener stevia.
   The fine against PureCircle is one of a series of actions over forced
   labor taken up by CBP in the past year. Since September 2019, the
   agency has issued 11 moratoriums on the importation of forced labor
   products into the United States, four of which were directed at Chinese
   companies.
   "As part of its trade enforcement responsibilities, CBP is dedicated to
   vigilantly monitoring U.S.-bound supply chains for links to forced
   labor, including prison labor, and will act to deter and disrupt the
   importation of merchandise made with forced labor practices," Brenda
   Smith, executive assistant commissioner of CBP's Office of Trade said
   in a [1]statement.
   She continued, "The use of forced labor is not just a serious human
   rights issue, but it also brings about unfair competition in our global
   supply chains. CBP's goal is to ensure that goods made by forced labor
   never reach U.S. consumers."
   So far this year, U.S. law enforcement authorities have stepped up
   scrutiny of a range of products from China suspected of being
   manufactured through forced labor.
   "We've had a very active year this year in terms of issuing withhold
   release orders," Smith told VOA.
   In just the past few months, CBP has targeted several Chinese companies
   for allegedly selling products made with forced labor to American
   consumers.
   Lenovo also targeted

   On Monday the Associated Press [2]reported that the U.S. Commerce
   Department has imposed sanctions on Lenovo, a Chinese manufacturer that
   supplies laptops to U.S. public schools, due to its alleged use of
   forced labor.
   On August 11, CBP issued a [3]moratorium on all U.S. ports of entry for
   imports from the Hero Vast Group, a Chinese clothing company.
   On 1 July, CBP officials at the port of Newark [4]detained a shipment
   of products and accessories suspected of being manufactured with human
   hair from Xinjiang, China, indicating a possible violation of human
   rights under forced labor and imprisonment.

References

   1. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-detention-order-garments-manufactured-prison-labor-china
   2. https://apnews.com/01e9302796d749b6aadc35ddc8f4c946
   3. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-detention-order-garments-manufactured-prison-labor-china
   4. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-detains-chinese-shipment-suspected-forced-labor-products-made#:~:text=NEWARK%2C%20NJ%20%E2%80%94U.S.%20Customs%20and,forced%20child%20labor%20and%20imprisonment

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