Overview
Steptoe partner Jeff Weiss was quoted in a Global Trade Review article titled "US companies sourcing across China face "bumpy" couple of years, experts warn." The July 22, 2022 article discusses the continued growth in the number of manufactures kickstarting operations in China's Xinjiang region despite intense scrutiny of forced labor. The concerns regarding forced labor led to the enactment of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which "created a 'rebuttable presumption’ that goods produced either wholly in Xinjiang, or in part, were made through the use of forced labor."
Weiss, who leads Steptoe's Supply Chain team, tells Global Trade Review that "diligence expectations will be heightened for all US companies sourcing from China, whether they are importing goods directly tied to Xinjiang or not."
"If you are an importer sourcing in China, but outside of Xinjiang, you still have to show you did not get any inputs from that particular region; or there were not any workers from Xinjiang relocated to a factory elsewhere that produced an input for your product," says Weiss.
The full article can be read at Global Trade Review.