The Trump administration since June has ramped up detentions of electronics, reportedly including components for solar panels, over possible links to forced labor in China, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
CBP data shows a rise since June in U.S. detentions of electronic shipments under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), a law aimed at preventing imports sourced with slave labor in China’s Xinjiang region, with a portion of the impounded imports reportedly including solar panel components, according to E&E News. From January to May, CBP intercepted $5.73 million worth of electronics imports, and the number surged to $15.67 million in June alone, CBP data states.
“It’s actually quite difficult to verify that any [solar imports] are exempt from slave labor,” Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “A lot of the industry for solar and for batteries is centered in Xinjiang, which is where two consecutive State Departments have concluded that there’s an ongoing genocide.” (RELATED: China Finds Way To Quietly Keep Its Forced Labor System Alive)
A demonstrator wearing a mask painted with the colors of the flag of East Turkestan and a hand bearing the colors of the Chinese flag attends a protest of supporters of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority and Turkish nationalists to denounce China’s treatment of ethnic Uighur Muslims during a deadly riot in July 2009 in Urumqi, in front of the Chinese consulate in Istanbul, on July 5, 2018. (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)
Nearly half of the world’s supply for polysilicon, a key material of solar panels, comes from Xinjiang, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The enforcement effort is reportedly slowing polysilicon cell imports, E&E News reported.
Though it is not clear how much of the halted electronic imports are related to solar materials, the green energy technology has been seized and linked to Chinese slave labor by CBP in previous years.
Reports from the United Nations and the Department of State have found that China is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang against the Uyghur Muslim population. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote in 2021 that China had subjected the Uyghur population to forced labor, forced sterilization and was committing an ongoing genocide.
Recent reports indicate that China has continued to use Uyghurs for slave labor, and that it has attempted to skirt U.S. forced labor laws by moving Uyghur Muslim workers to factories outside of the Xinjiang region.
Lucci told the DCNF that American dependence on China for solar materials helps enable slave labor while creating other concerning vulnerabilities.
In May, Reuters first reported that U.S. officials were finding “rogue communication devices” in Chinese solar panels not listed in product documents that could potentially be remotely triggered to trigger blackouts, which Lucci noted.
“It’s just one more piece of evidence that we shouldn’t be doing this type of business with them — we can’t trust them,” Lucci told the DCNF. “We can’t trust their system.”
The Trump administration has moved to clamp down on wind and solar technology that the Biden administration favored, citing concerns about reliability and dependency on foreign rivals for energy infrastructure.
CBP and the Chinese Embassy did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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