As a result of DHS’ focus on enforcement in apparel and cotton products, importers have shifted supply chains from China to mitigate their risk.

With its new Textile Enforcement Plan, DHS is expanding its enforcement efforts to address risk of cotton sourced from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in de minimis shipments and to protect the textile and apparel industries’ investments in clean free trade agreement supply chains, a DHS release said.

The XUAR produces 10 per cent of the world’s polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the majority of which is used to manufacture vinyl flooring. US imports of PVC products declined by 48 per cent in the last 12 months as US importers shifted away from suppliers that utilised XUAR-sourced PVC in certain flooring products.

Industry reports acknowledge these shifts away from Chinese supply chains and have resulted in new and expanded PVC and flooring production capacities in the United States, Mexico, India and Vietnam, DHS said.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) establishes a rebuttable presumption that the import of any goods produced by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List is prohibited from import into the United States.

Since implementation of the rebuttable presumption in June 2022, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reviewed more than 9,000 shipments valued at over $3.4 billion, covering a broad range of products, including apparel and flooring.

The UFLPA Entity List now includes 68 entities, 48 of which were added in the last 13 months, DHS added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)