AMN/ WEB DESK
The US Senate yesterday passed a legislation to ban the import of products from China’s Xinjiang region. Passed by unanimous consent, the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act would shift the burden of proof to importers. The bill must also be passed by the House of Representatives before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who introduced the legislation with Democrat Jeff Merkley, called on the House to act quickly. He said that US will not turn a blind eye to the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing crimes against humanity and will not allow corporations a free pass to profit from those horrific abuses. He added that no American corporation should profit from these abuses and no American consumers should be inadvertently purchasing products from slave labour.
Democratic and Republican aides said, they expected the measure would get strong support in the house, noting the house approved a similar measure nearly unanimously last year.