A new American warning towards China: the United States has just banned the purchase of products believed to be the result of forced labor by Uyghurs, in Xinjiang. This boycott is a world first. Washington intends to protest against the repression of this Muslim minority by Beijing.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called on China to end “genocide and crimes against humanity”, while Beijing immediately denounced the decision. Those are the imports of cotton, canned tomatoes and polysilicon, a material used in photovoltaic panels, which will be particularly targeted. Because all three are mass produced in Xinjiang. They will simply be banned from entering American soil.
This law will complicate matters a little more for companies, which already have to face shortages on the production lines, and which will find themselves in the middle of a Sino-American bargaining under high pressure. The first victim is the electronics manufacturer Intel. The message in which he advised his suppliers to stop sourcing from Xinjiang provoked such an outcry that he felt forced to apologize to his Chinese partners.
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