U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said it will step up scrutiny of imports of steel, copper, lithium and other materials from China to enforce a U.S. ban on goods allegedly made with forced labor in the country’s Xinjiang region.
The announcement of new “high-priority sectors” targeted under the 4-year-old Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was included Tuesday in an annual update to the U.S. government’s enforcement efforts. It also dovetails with Trump’s broader trade goals, as he seeks to lower the U.S. trade deficit with China and pressures Beijing to curb shipments of fentanyl and precursor chemicals.
“America has a moral, economic, and national security duty to eradicate threats that endanger our nation’s prosperity, including unfair trade practices that disadvantage the American people and stifle our economic growth,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
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