Washington - The U.S. wants to initiate further sanctions against China because of the oppression of the Uighur Muslim minority. The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill to ban imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang because of forced labor. The House of Representatives approved the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" by an overwhelming vote of 428 to 1.
The law establishes a rebuttable presumption that all goods from Xinjiang were produced by forced labor and imposes an import ban on them. For the law to take effect, it must still pass the Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden. Republicans accuse Democrats of filibustering the bill because it would complicate the president's renewable energy agenda. The White House and Democrats in Congress deny that. Xinjiang supplies much of the world's materials for solar cells. read more