(Photo: Reuters)WASHINGTON: Electric-vehicle batteries and other car parts are the latest products under scrutiny as part of Washington’s effort to stamp out US links to forced labour in Chinese supply chains, according to a document seen by Reuters, agency statistics and sources. When shipments are detained, CBP provides the importer with a list of examples of products from previous reviews and the kind of documentation required to prove they are not made with forced labour, CBP told Reuters. That document, a recent version of which was obtained by Reuters through a public records request, was updated between April and June of this year to include batteries, tyres, aluminium and steel, a CBP spokesperson said. “The timing of these changes does not reflect any specific changes in strategy or operations,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the list of eight product types was “not exhaustive”. The stepped-up focus on automakers follows a study by Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, published in December, that said nearly every major automaker has exposure to products made with forced labour in Xinjiang.
