Manila, Philippines — The US Commerce Secretary has committed to addressing the Philippines’ concerns after US authorities stopped shipments of clothing on suspicion that cotton was produced by forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, Philippine officials said on Tuesday.
Philippine Commerce Secretary Alfredo Pascual raised the issue Monday during a meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who led a U.S. business delegation in Manila to further expand trade and investment in America’s oldest treaty ally in Asia .
“Secretary Raimondo has committed to assisting us in this matter,” Philippine Undersecretary of Commerce Ceferino Rodolfo told The Associated Press, without elaborating. “We are working with the American side.”
U.S. officials did not immediately comment.
The Philippine Commerce Department said the issue involved “detained clothing exports” in the US, but did not elaborate.
A Philippine trade official told the AP that several shipments of clothing to the U.S. from just one Philippines-based company had not been cleared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection since November because of suspicions that cotton produced by Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim Uighurs was used in the exported goods. clothing.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to a lack of authority to discuss the matter publicly. The Philippines is concerned that such problems could tarnish the image of its apparel exports to the US, one of Manila’s biggest export markets.
In 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law to block imports from Xinjiang and other areas of China unless companies can prove the items were made without forced labor. The law requires U.S. government agencies to expand their oversight of the use of forced labor by Chinese ethnic minorities.
The US lists raw cotton, gloves, tomato products, silicon and viscose, fishing gear and solar energy components as goods allegedly produced using forced labor in Xinjiang, a resource-rich mining region important for agricultural production. a thriving industrial sector.
The 2021 law was one of several US attempts to crack down on China over its alleged systemic and widespread abuse of ethnic and religious minorities in the western region, particularly the Uyghurs.
China has denied any abuses and says the steps it has taken are necessary to combat terrorism and a separatist movement.
The Philippines respects and wants to comply with the US law against Chinese forced labor, but wants the clothing exporter to be allowed to meet US customs authorities soon so he can prove his claim that he did not use cotton from Xinjiang for his clothes. According to the Philippine trade official, such exports could be quickly released to the US if there were no concerns.
Raimondo said at a news conference in Manila on Monday that 22 American companies, whose delegations participated in her trip, plan to invest more than $1 billion in the Philippines. The U.S. investment would include training a large number of Filipinos to acquire high-tech skills that could help them secure high-paying jobs, she said.
