US bars seafood imports from Chinese company Dalian Ocean Fishing over forced labour suspicions
The United States is barring seafood imports from a Chinese fishing company it says uses forced Indonesian labour on its vessels, the Biden administration announced on Friday.
US Customs and Border Protection said it has identified labour abuses on all of Dalian Ocean Fishing's 32 vessels, including physical violence, withholding of wages, and abusive working and living conditions.
The customs agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said it has issued an order to immediately detain tuna, swordfish and other seafood products from the Chinese fishing company at US ports of entry.
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This "will ensure we continue to protect the human rights of those working in the distant water fishing industry, while also upholding safeguarding our national and economic security," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Mayorkas said the action marked the first time the customs agency has banned imports from an entire fishing fleet, as opposed to individual vessels.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a hearing in Washington. Photo: DPA alt=US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during a hearing in Washington. Photo: DPA
"DHS will continue to aggressively investigate the use of forced labour by distant water fishing vessels and by a wide range of other industries," Mayorkas said.
"Producers and US importers alike should understand that there will be consequences for entities that attempt to exploit workers to sell goods in the United States," he said.
US imports from Dalian Ocean Fishing amounted to just US$233,000 in the 2020 financial year, the customs agency said. But the ban is intended to signal a continued effort by the Biden administration to curb trades associated with forced labour.
The move comes less than two days after the first meeting between US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He.
Earlier this week, Tai called attention to the issue of forced labour on fishing vessels, saying it "harms the lives and well-being of fishers and workers around the world and it must be eliminated".
Tai's team issued a proposal to the World Trade Organization urging the international community to address the issue, including a call to cut subsidies to illegal fishing.
The US has also prohibited other imports related to forced labour. In January, the customs agency, under the Trump administration, issued an order suspending cotton and tomato imports from China over suspicions that Muslim minorities are being used as forced labour in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee adopted an amendment to the Clean Energy for America Act that would prohibit the import of products such as solar cells, wind turbines and energy storage equipment unless the United Nations can verify that no slavery or child labour was used in their manufacturing.
Additional reporting by Reuters
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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