A group of House Democrats sent a letter yesterday to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus asking why certain Chinese companies were not included on a list of companies known to use slave labor in reference to enforcing the\u00a0Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.<\/p>\n
The letter, sent by Reps. Marcy Kaptur (OH), Tim Ryan (OH), Brendan Boyle (PA), Mike Doyle (PA), Bill Pascrell (NJ), Tom Suozzi (NY) and Stephanie Murphy (FL), inquired as to why solar products made by JinkoSolar, Xinte Energy and LONGi Solar were excluded. A 2021 report included the companies<\/a> as having ties to forced labor in their supply chains.<\/p>\n Signed into law by President Biden in December 2021 and being enforced since June 21, 2022, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act<\/a> prohibits the importation of any goods, wares, articles and merchandise into the United States that are mined, produced or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People\u2019s Republic of China. The act is in response to China\u2019s reportedly mass imprisonment, torture and enslavement of the Uyghur people.<\/p>\n In addition to cotton and tomatoes, polysilicon is under significant scrutiny under the UFLPA. It\u2019s been estimated that almost\u00a050% of the world\u2019s polysilicon<\/a> comes from the Xinjiang region. Polysilicon is the foundational building block of crystalline silicon solar panels.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security released a list of companies working in Xinjiang that are\u00a0known to use forced labor<\/a> before the June 21 enforcement of UFLPA. No down-stream solar companies are listed, but a few polysilicon firms<\/a> are, including Hoshine, Daqo, GCL and East Hope.<\/p>\n