U.S. legislators are urging Canada to strengthen its enforcement of import bans on goods produced with forced labour, expressing concerns that products blocked by the United States could be exported to Canada and potentially re-enter the U.S. market.
In a letter dated Sept. 18, U.S. legislators, including Senators Marco Rubio and Jeff Merkley, urged Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng and other trade representatives of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to take further action against forced labour.
“USMCA partners should take additional steps to build on the progress made to effectively stop the import of goods produced with forced labor into North America,” the lawmakers wrote. They specifically highlighted the need to curb imports of goods made with forced labour from China.
The signatories expressed particular frustration that a shipment of solar panels, denied entry by the United States on the grounds of its likely use of forced labour, was later imported into Canada, followed by an attempt to re-export it to the United States.
The senators, along with U.S. Representatives Christopher Smith and Jim McGovern, who also signed the letter, were instrumental in the passage of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which was enacted in response to reports of abuse and forced labour involving Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region.
In a separate Sept. 24 letter sent to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, the U.S. lawmakers urged Canada and Mexico to pass legislation modelled on the UFLPA, to prevent future cases of forced labour goods “denied in one country being re-exported to another within the USMCA.”
The Epoch Times contacted Ng for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.
Shipment Seized
Aligning with international efforts to stop Beijing’s forced labour targeting Uyghurs, Canada amended its Customs Tariff Act on July 1, 2020, prohibiting the importation of goods that are “mined, manufactured, or produced wholly or in part by forced labour.”However, more than a year after the act was amended, Canada had seized only one shipment of goods from China.
By contrast, as of Sept. 1, 2024, U.S. authorities have denied entry to 3,976 shipments suspected of being linked to forced labour, with a total value of roughly US$750 million. The largest number of denied shipments originated from Vietnam, with 1,469 rejected. This was followed by China, with 1,439 shipments, and Malaysia, with 551 shipments.
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) confirmed that it has intercepted just one shipment since July 2020, according to an Inquiry of Ministry first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter in April 2024.
The shipment arrived in Canada from China on Sept. 15, 2021, and consisted of $68,623 worth of children’s clothes. This shipment was eventually released and allowed into the country.
The Epoch Times reached out to the CBSA for comment on the U.S. letter, but didn’t hear back by publication time.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has identified products like tomatoes, cotton, polysilicon, aluminum, polyvinyl chloride, and seafood as priority sectors for enforcement, according to the U.S. lawmakers. In addition to bolstering collaboration among USMCA countries, the U.S. lawmakers urged codifying the suggested measures in an upcoming review of the trilateral agreement in July 2026.
“Making North America a forced labor import-free zone is a goal that would bring credit to each of our countries and benefit all our citizens,” they wrote.
Noé Chartier contributed to this report.
