Washington DC [US], August 20 (ANI): The US has intensified its crackdown on forced labour-linked imports from China by adding five additional products to the 'high-priority sectors' under the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA), as per a statement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

According to the statement issued by DHS on Tuesday (local time), the new products include steel, copper, lithium, caustic soda, and red dates, all of which are now under heightened scrutiny for links to forced labour involving the ethnic minority group of Uyghurs, an indigenous Turkic Muslim group native to the region known as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or East Turkestan.

'Today, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bolstered America's economic and national security by adding steel, copper, lithium, caustic soda, and red dates as high-priority sectors for enforcement under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) which restricts Chinese goods made with forced labor from entering the United States,' the statement read.

The Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, in a statement, emphasised that the move is a significant step in reinforcing the US's commitment to eradicating goods made with forced labour from American supply chains.

'America has a moral, economic, and national security duty to eradicate threats that endanger our nation's prosperity, including unfair trade practices that disadvantage the American people and stifle our economic growth. The Trump administration is taking action,' she said.

'The use of slave labor is repulsive and we will hold Chinese companies accountable for abuses and eliminate threats its forced labor practices pose to our prosperity,' the statement added.

As per DHS, currently, 144 entities are listed on the UFLPA Entity List as having ties to forced labour practices in the region.

These include companies and suppliers accused of directly using, facilitating, or benefiting from such practices.

According to the US Department of State, the UFLPA was established as a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List are subject to import.

The law was enacted on December 23, 2021, and enforcement began on June 21, 2022. (ANI)