A new withhold release order (WRO) was announced by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on cotton and tomato products from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Effective January 13, 2021, the WRO requires CBP to detain all cotton and tomato products grown or produced in the Xinjiang province, including apparel, textiles, tomato seeds, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and other goods made with cotton and tomatoes. The WRO is in response to a CBP investigation that found cotton and tomato products from this region were produced with forced labor.

Over the last four months, CBP has issued other WROs for goods from this region, including one in December, which applied to cotton goods from a specific company in the province. If you are importing goods from this region of China and have questions, please contact a Deringer service center.