The US has added 43 Chinese companies, including several aluminium producers, to its forced labour entity list, increasing pressure on automakers to review their aluminium supply chains.
The companies were added under the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA). This US law presumes goods produced by listed entities are linked to forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region. They are therefore prohibited from entering the US.
The list includes five major aluminium producers based in Xinjiang, highlighting growing scrutiny of the aluminium sector.
According to a Human Rights Watch report published in February 2024, more than 15 per cent of China’s aluminium production, equal to around 9 per cent of global aluminium output, comes from Xinjiang.
The report noted that aluminium producers, along with the coal mines and power plants supplying them, have taken part in Chinese government labour transfer programmes involving Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities.
In July 2024, the US government listed aluminium as a high-priority sector for enforcement under the UFLPA because the metal is widely used in manufacturing around the world.