Yesterday, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), who are all part of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), sent a letter to Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Troy Miller "seeking information on whether CBP has stopped imports from companies that have publicly endorsed the use of cotton from Xinjiang and that have advertised its use in their products."
The letter requests that CBP provide the members of Congress "with detailed information about enforcement of the January 2021 Withhold Release Order (WRO) on cotton imports from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)." They say they are "particularly interested in whether CBP has stopped imports from companies that have publicly endorsed the use of cotton from the XUAR and have advertised its use in their products." If specific information about this request "is not readily available in an aggregated form," they ask that CPB "enforce the existing WRO with special attention to" an attached list of companies, "or issue an additional WRO for the imports of any company endorsing the use of XUAR cotton."
The letter then mentions the start of the National Basketball Association (NBA) season this week, and notes that the sportswear companies Anta, Peak, and Li-Ning "have high-profile endorsements from NBA players." The members of Congress say they "do not want sports stars or other celebrity influencers to knowingly or unwittingly endorse goods made with forced labor or for U.S. consumers to buy these products."