WATCH: Top Uyghur Official Says Muslim Leaders Stay SILENT on China’s Persecution
Donald Trump has built his political career on a refusal to let foreign governments exploit the United States. That principle was reaffirmed through his broader trade agenda toward China, which has consistently sought to hold Beijing accountable for its unfair practices and economic manipulation.
His policy reflects Trump’s conviction that America cannot remain dependent on an authoritarian regime for resources that are vital to both economic competitiveness and national security.
Yet China’s global advantage is not rooted solely in its dominance of rare earth production. Each year, tens of thousands of Uyghurs—a Turkic Muslim people—are taken from their homes in East Turkistan, which Beijing calls “Xinjiang” (meaning “New Territory”), and transported across China for forced labor.
On October 12, 1949, Communist China invaded East Turkistan and, in 1955, designated it the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” cementing its control over the region.
Trump has yet to apply the same economic pressure on this system that he has on unfair trade practices. A targeted tariff on products linked to forced labor would strike at one of China’s greatest vulnerabilities while proving that American trade policy must stand not only for economic strength but also for human dignity.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, in partnership with The New York Times and Der Spiegel, identified 75 factory sites across 11 provinces where Uyghurs were forcibly transferred from East Turkistan, a region home to roughly 12 million Uyghurs.
Investigators documented more than 11,000 transfers. In Jiangsu province alone, local officials reported 39,000 Uyghurs compelled to work.
These factories supply major multinational corporations, including Apple, Volkswagen, Tesla, and Samsung.
Researchers also traced more than 145,000 export consignments from facilities linked to Uyghur labor, demonstrating how deeply global supply chains are tainted by coercion. China’s cost advantage in these sectors is not simply the result of subsidies or industrial policy; rather, it is the result of slavery.
During my interview with Dr. Mamtimin Ala, president of the East Turkestan Government-in-Exile, he characterized Uyghur life under Chinese rule as a “digital prison,” explaining that many workers were first detained in massive camp systems before being forced into factories.
“Slave labor is not just about producing cheap goods—it is the economic engine that helps Beijing compete with the free world,” Dr. Ala told me.
Dr. Ala also emphasized the destruction of Uyghur culture that accompanies the labor system. “We have no freedom of speech, no freedom of movement, and no freedom of thought,” he said, recalling his childhood in Atush, East Turkistan, during the Cultural Revolution.
Dr. Ala watched as Uyghur intellectuals disappeared and entire communities were subjected to collective punishment. For him, forced labor is not a temporary policy but “a nationwide, systemic element of the industrial economy” that ties Chinese exports directly to repression.
Between 2020 and 2023, nearly 70% of U.S. rare earth imports came from China.
More than 90% of the world’s permanent magnet production—essential for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and precision-guided missiles—remains under Chinese control.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of War estimates that at least 3 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities have been forced into concentration camps, prisons, or labor transfers.
America’s reliance on Chinese supply chains is inseparable from the machinery of repression in Xinjiang—East Turkistan.
Congress has attempted to respond. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, passed in 2021, bans imports produced in Xinjiang unless companies can prove they are free of coerced labor.
Yet enforcement has been uneven. In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained more than 4,000 shipments valued at $1.4 billion over forced labor concerns, but the sheer scale of China’s system means many goods still slip through. Beijing’s ability to disperse Uyghur workers across Chinese provinces makes detection even more difficult.
Every cheap product imported from China carries a hidden price, borne by Uyghur families torn from their homes, monitored through constant surveillance, and silenced under the threat of imprisonment.
American consumers should not be made to subsidize this repression without their knowledge.
Trump’s trade policies are effective economic instruments, but their true potential lies in linking economic leverage with moral clarity.
A trade policy that defends national security is a strong statement of sovereignty. A trade policy that also punishes forced labor is a direct challenge to the foundation of China’s economic model.
If Trump wants to secure America’s success, he must confront the inhumane practices China uses to cut its costs.
Trade policy must not only keep America strong—it must also hold China accountable for building an economy on the backs of enslaved people.
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