Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS—Task force that includes DOL announces strategy targeting forced labor in China, (Aug 21, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

China is the world’s leading producer of caustic soda and jujubes, the DOL explains, which are now on the department’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.

The Department of Labor recently announced that the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, which is led by Homeland Security and includes DOL as a partner, has a new strategy to strengthen enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and prevent goods made with forced labor in China from reaching American shores. This updated 2025 UFLPA enforcement strategy is part of the broader effort to prevent foreign countries that exploit their workers from undermining American competitiveness in global trade.

The new strategy enhances support for Customs and Border Protection in detecting and blocking imports, including goods made in the Xinjiang region of China or by designated entities are barred from entering the U.S., and updates the UFLPA Entity List, which identifies foreign enterprises barred from importing goods made with forced labor. The list currently includes 144 entities.

The 2025 update also adds five priority sectors: caustic soda, jujubes, copper, lithium, and steel. China is the world’s leading producer of caustic soda and jujubes, which appear on the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. That list includes 31 goods from China, 21 of which are tied to forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

“America First means keeping foreign goods made with forced labor off our shelves and ensuring American businesses aren’t put at a disadvantage,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer. “This joint strategy equips our enforcement agencies with the tools they need to crack down on China and other bad actors whose trade abuses distort markets and hurt American workers.”

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