US adds 43 Chinese companies to forced labour import ban, taking the list to 187

The United States has barred goods from 43 more Chinese companies, including a salmon producer, a frozen dumpling maker, a menswear label and a tomato paste processor, after finding they either take part in state labour transfers out of Xinjiang or source material from the region.

The finding was published on 3 August 2026 in a Department of Homeland Security notice in the Federal Register (volume 91, number 147, pages 48913 to 48920), signed by Robert T. Law, Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy and Plans and chair of the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force. Four companies were added under clause 2(d)(2)(B)(ii) of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which covers entities working with the Xinjiang government to recruit, transport or receive Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other persecuted groups out of the region. Forty one were added under clause 2(d)(2)(B)(v), which covers entities sourcing material from Xinjiang or from participants in the "poverty alleviation" and "pairing assistance" labour schemes. Two companies appear on both sub-lists. The notice supersedes the list published on 15 January 2025 and brings the total to 187 entities.

The legal effect is immediate and blunt. Under section 3(a) of the Act, US Customs and Border Protection must apply a rebuttable presumption that anything mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part by a listed entity is made with forced labour and is therefore prohibited from entry under 19 U.S.C. 1307. The importer, not the government, carries the burden of proving otherwise.

The notice sets out the reasoning company by company. It says the United States government has "reasonable cause to believe, based on specific and articulable information" that Xinjiang Communications Construction Group, a state owned infrastructure firm in Urumqi, takes part in labour transfers targeting Uyghurs from Kashgar Prefecture and Hotan County. Xinjiang Tianyun Organic Agriculture, which sells multiple salmon products, and Zhengzhou Synear Food, a Henan frozen food manufacturer, were listed on the same clause. Among the 41 sourcing designations are Chalkis Health Industry, a tomato paste producer held by the Sixth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; Fujian Septwolves, a menswear maker found to source Xinjiang cotton; Baiyin Nonferrous and its subsidiary Xinjiang Baiyin, found to be sourcing copper and molybdenum; and Chacha Food, a snack company whose products the notice says reach nearly 50 countries.

DHS announced the additions on 31 July 2026 and called it the single largest expansion of the list, a rise of about 30 per cent. Its statement said Customs and Border Protection has denied entry to more than 24,300 shipments under the Act since 2022, worth close to one billion US dollars. The State Department, in a 31 July statement from spokesperson Thomas Pigott, listed the affected goods as seafood, gold, copper, transportation infrastructure, aluminium, tomatoes, cotton, garments and frozen food.

Campaigners welcomed the move and then criticised its pace. The Coalition to End Forced Labour in the Uyghur Region said on 3 August that this was the first expansion of the list since 15 January 2025, a gap of more than 18 months, and that "there are thousands more companies that should be on the entity list", quoting Laura Murphy of Sheffield Hallam University. The coalition wants automotive, pharmaceuticals, electronics and metals including titanium, beryllium, gold and magnesium designated as high priority sectors in the task force's forthcoming 2026 strategy update.

Australia is not a bystander. Nine days before the listing, on 24 July 2026, the United States began charging a 12.5 per cent tariff on Australian goods under a separate Section 301 action covering 60 economies, published in the Federal Register on 28 July 2026. The US Trade Representative determined on 2 June 2026 that 54 economies, Australia among them, had failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on importing goods made with forced labour. Economies that do have such a ban, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union, were set at 10 per cent. Ambassador Jamieson Greer said on 23 July that the United States "has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century" and that it was "well past time for our trading partners to do the same". The process drew more than 2,100 public comments and two rounds of hearings.

Canberra disputes the premise. A spokesperson for the Trade Minister told the ABC on 3 June 2026 that any tariff was "unjustified" and inconsistent with the Australia United States Free Trade Agreement, and that Australia has "robust, comprehensive and world-leading legislation" on forced labour and modern slavery. Australia's Modern Slavery Act requires reporting, not border seizure, and the two governments have not resolved whether reporting counts as a prohibition.

What happens next is not known. Listed entities may petition the task force for removal, and the decision is made by majority vote of member agencies and cannot be appealed. No removal request from this batch has been reported. It is also unclear how much trade the 43 designations will actually stop, since the task force says its list is not exhaustive, and whether Australia will legislate an import ban rather than continue arguing that it does not need one.