“Steel And Other Sectors Added to Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act”, 20 August 2025

On August 18, the US Department of Labor announced the addition of five sectors to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

The law was created on December 23, 2021, and became effective on June 21, 2022. The purpose of the act was to strengthen the existing prohibition against the importation of goods made wholly or in part with forced labor into the United States and to end the systematic use of forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

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The updated 2025 UFLPA enforcement strategy added the following sectors:

• Steel
• Lithium
• Copper
• Caustic soda
• Jujubes (red dates)

The report notes that China is the world’s leading producer of caustic soda and jujubes, which appear on the department’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. In total, that list includes 31 goods from China – more than any other nation – with 21 tied to forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.