Philippines says US will address concerns over garment exports held up on suspicion of forced labor

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine trade officials say they have received assurances that the United States will address their concerns after American authorities held up shipments of garments on suspicion that cotton was produced by forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. Philippine Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual raised the issue in a meeting Monday with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who was leading a U.S. business delegation in Manila. An official in Manila says several shipments of apparel to the U.S. by just one Philippines-based company since November had not been released by the U.S. Customs Border Protection due to suspicion cotton produced by Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim Uyghurs was used in the exported apparels.