VOC Testifies Before the Office of the United States Trade Representative

On Tuesday, April 28, VOC’s Associate Director of China Studies, Serkan Tas, testified before the Office of the United States Trade Representative regarding the Section 301 investigation into economies that have failed to effectively prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor.

In this public hearing, Tas presented three key findings from VOC’s latest research on China’s system of forced labor and the importation of forced labor-connected products into the United States:

1. Direct exports from Xinjiang have grown more than threefold since the enactment of the UFLPA, rising from $19.5 billion in 2021 to $64.4 billion in 2025. In the last year alone, the 59 economies under investigation received 58.45% of these exports, or approximately $37.62 billion.

2. All sectors identified in the UFLPA Strategy for high-priority enforcement are present in trade flows from Xinjiang to the investigated economies, with an estimated total of $7.39 billion. Non-cotton apparel is the largest sector at $3.17 billion, followed by cotton and cotton products at $2.78 billion.

3. Emerging evidence suggests that goods denied entry under the UFLPA are being redirected to markets without forced labor import bans. A 2025 assessment found that 45% of companies whose shipments were detained under the UFLPA chose to re-export rather than demonstrate compliance.

Photo by Tony Webster via Flickr under CC BY 2.0.