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Hi-tech tools may keep forced-labour goods out of US market as top brands brace for Xinjiang ban
- The US customs agency is soliciting proposals for ways to identify suspect products in the supply chain, with technologies including DNA-based molecular tagging
- New techniques can determine where textiles originate, aiding companies that likely will be required to prove their goods didn’t come from Xinjiang
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Earlier this summer, the powerful US government agency that oversees America’s borders and ports sent out a call for help: it wanted to stop goods made with forced labour from entering the country, but needed better technology to track them down.
“When examining a textile product how do you determine where it came from?” asked a memo from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to businesses. “Share your best tech!”
It did not mention China by name, but the message was clear.
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US border agents are preparing for a total ban on all goods entering the US from China’s far-west Xinjiang region, where Beijing is accused of carrying out a genocide against Uygurs and other mostly Muslim minority groups, and subjecting many of them to forced labour.
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Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer
Xinjiang, China’s top cotton producer
It has sparked something of a gold rush for science and technology companies hoping to get in on the big business of blocking imports from Xinjiang.
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“We’re certainly going to pursue it because it’s an interesting business opportunity,” said Ricardo Carossino, the president and CEO of Stratum Reservoir, a company that uses hi-tech forensic methods to track petroleum supply chains.
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