[President Biden is expected to
sign the bill, which drew a fierce corporate lobbying campaign against it.]
Its passage was a victory for
supporters of an aggressive human rights measure that faced a fierce corporate
lobbying campaign from businesses that argued it was too onerous and would
disrupt global supply chains. The vote sent the measure to President Biden’s
desk, where he was expected to sign it into law.
The bill represents the most
forceful legislative response yet to China’s campaign against the Uyghurs, a
predominantly Muslim ethnic group, which the Biden administration has called a
genocide. It would impose a high standard for companies seeking to import
products from the region, banning goods made “in whole or in part” in Xinjiang
unless companies are able to prove to customs officials that the products were
not made with forced labor.
“Many companies have already taken
steps to clean up their supply chains,” said Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of
Florida and one of the authors of the bill. “They should have no concerns about
this law. For those who have not done that, they’ll no longer be able to
continue to make Americans — every one of us, frankly — unwitting accomplices
in the atrocities, in the genocide that’s being committed by the Chinese
Communist Party.”
The legislation had stalled for
months on Capitol Hill, even as lawmakers decried the severity of China’s
wide-scale repression of Uyghurs. Those offenses have included administering
forced sterilizations and abortions, and placing Uyghurs and other ethnic
minorities in concentration camps, where they have faced torture and sexual
abuse.
Few officials or companies wanted
to publicly push back against the legislation, wary of the optics of appearing
indifferent to genocide. But behind the scenes, the bill’s tough standard —
which presumes that all goods produced in the region are made with forced labor
unless companies can prove otherwise — alarmed some corporations, lawmakers and
Biden administration officials who feared it was overly broad.
Roughly one in five cotton garments
sold globally contains cotton or yarn from Xinjiang, and the
region produces a significant
portion of the world’s polysilicon, which is used to make solar panels
and smartphones. Some administration officials worried that the standard at the
heart of the bill would cripple already disrupted supply chains and create
additional roadblocks to meeting the nation’s climate goals, according to
congressional aides familiar with the discussions.
Companies including Nike,
Coca-Cola and Apple also lobbied Congress in an attempt to weaken that
provision.
But lawmakers coalesced around a
compromise version of the legislation earlier this week and pushed it through,
a burst of momentum that came after Mr. Rubio held up consideration of the
annual defense policy bill, demanding that the Senate turn its attention to the
forced labor measure.
The final version retained the
tough importation standard for companies, but stripped out a related measure
that would have required companies to disclose any involvement in a wide range
of activities conducted in the Xinjiang region. That reporting requirement,
vehemently opposed by large companies, was met with resistance from some
lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee.
Earlier this week, Jen Psaki, the
White House press secretary, confirmed in a statement that Mr. Biden would sign
the bill into law, noting that the White House had earlier
cracked down on forced labor in the supply chain for solar panels made
in Xinjiang by banning products made by specific companies.
“The administration will work
closely with Congress to implement this bill to ensure global supply chains are
free of forced labor, while simultaneously working to onshore and third-shore
key supply chains, including semiconductors and clean energy,” Ms. Psaki said.
Legislative drama dogged the
legislation until the end. Attempts by Mr. Rubio to expedite the bill’s passage
on Wednesday were halted by Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, who tried to
attach an extension of an expiring child tax credit payment, which Republicans
widely oppose, to the anti-forced labor measure.
“Getting this bill over the finish
line and into law ensures that American consumers and businesses can buy goods
without inadvertent complicity in China’s horrific human rights abuses,” said
Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon and a co-sponsor of the legislation.
“As the Chinese government tries to whitewash their genocide and claim a propaganda
victory with the upcoming Olympics, this legislation sends a powerful,
bipartisan message that the United States will not turn a blind eye.”
