The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a press release Dec. 1 asking people to call their members of Congress to argue against watering down the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (see 2011300034). The group was responding to a report in The New York Times that business interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Nike and Apple, are asking Congress to weaken the bill, which would prohibit imports of many products made by Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province in an effort to halt the use of forced labor and other human rights abuses.
Lobbying disclosure reports show a lot of corporate interest in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Plumbing Manufacturers International, and many companies, including Nike, Apple, Engie North America, Kraft Heinz, Campbell Soup and VF have been lobbying on the bill, which passed the House almost unanimously and is awaiting a Senate vote. The law would create a presumption that any goods from China's Xinjiang province were made with forced labor. The AFL-CIO and the American Foundry Society also have been lobbying on the bill.