The Chinese companies Shein and Temu have become wildly popular for their dirt-cheap clothes and gadgets. Hidden behind the trendy bargains, however, rests an ugly truth: these companies are profiting from slave labor. Mounting evidence ties their supply chains to forced labor by Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region. This isn’t a minor allegation; it’s part of what many countries recognize as an ongoing genocide against the Uyghur people.
President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly weighing whether to add Shein and Temu to the Department of Homeland Security’s forced labor blacklist. As the Trump administration works to decouple the United States from reliance on Chinese goods, leveraging existing authority to prevent Shein and Temu from skirting U.S. law should be a priority. Kicking out forced-labor profiteers would protect our values and strengthen our resilience against a hostile foreign power.
In 2021, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) to ensure that American commercial activity is not supporting forced labor. The UFLPA created a rebuttable presumption that any goods connected to Xinjiang are tainted by forced labor and barred from import unless proven otherwise. This law embodies a basic moral principle: no product of slave labor should reach American homes and businesses. Unfortunately, that principle is undermined every day when Americans purchase products from Shein and Temu.
The allegations against Shein and Temu are not mere speculation. A 2022 report by Bloomberg used laboratory testing to confirm that Shein’s products contained cotton sourced from Xinjiang, the epicenter of China’s state-run forced labor program. While Shein claims it does not source from Xinjiang, the opacity of its supply chain raises serious concerns about its credibility.
Similarly, Temu, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, is also complicit in the use of forced Uyghur labor. Temu’s rapid expansion into the U.S. market has come with almost no transparency about its sourcing practices. Unlike Amazon or Walmart, which have regulatory and compliance mechanisms in place to audit suppliers, Temu operates as a marketplace that allows Chinese manufacturers—many of whom may rely on Xinjiang supply chains—to sell directly to American consumers with little scrutiny.
Banning Shein and Temu is not just a moral necessity; it is an economic imperative. The presence of these companies in the U.S. market undercuts American businesses that adhere to ethical labor practices. Such rock-bottom prices are subsidized by forced labor, lack of supply chain transparency, and regulatory arbitrage. This creates an unfair playing field for American retailers and manufacturers and exposes consumers to harmful products. By formally designating these companies as complicit in forced labor in Xinjiang, their imports could be blocked outright unless they prove no ties to slave labor — a high bar given the evidence.
From a strategic perspective, allowing companies with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to dominate the U.S. e-commerce space poses national security risks. A 2023 report from the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the CCP identified Shein’s “aggressive data collection” on American consumers, similar to the concerns raised about TikTok. Given the CCP’s extensive history of using technology companies for intelligence gathering, continued access to U.S. consumers poses a direct risk.
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This move would be a significant escalation in holding China accountable and protecting U.S. consumers. It’s also a logical next step in Trump’s broader trade crackdown. Placing Shein and Temu on the UFLPA-covered list would send an unambiguous message: the United States will not be a dumping ground for goods made with slave labor. This approach offers a targeted solution that protects human rights without harming legitimate trade.
By banishing Shein and Temu from our market, Trump would be standing up for the millions who cannot speak out, from Uyghur laborers to U.S. workers who deserve better than competing with slave labor.
Luke Hogg is the director of technology policy at the Foundation for American Innovation. Josh Levine is a research fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation.