Reps. Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi talk with reporters in the U.S. Capitol on March 13. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Two House members urged the State Department Wednesday to step up its diplomatic efforts to ensure companies that benefit from thebelieved to be complicit in the Chinese government's human rights abuses towards Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang province. Now, the leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party are calling for the U.S. to get allies on board as well.Yet the select committee has learned that certain EU members are considering voting against the ban, committee chair Mike Gallagher and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote in aFailing to pass the ban would mean products made by Chinese "state-sponsored forced labor programs will continue to have unfettered access to European markets.
Initial efforts should "prioritize engagement" with EU partners, including Germany and Italy, ahead of a prospective vote on the import ban. The lawmakers gave the State Department until April 30 to answer a series of questions regarding their efforts to engage allies on the topic. in Dec. 2021, banning all imports from Xinjiang unless companies can prove with "clear and convincing evidence" that the products are not made with forced labor.The Trump administration in Jan.