Apparel group says broad ban on China’s Xinjiang cotton impossible to enforce

The head of a major apparel industry group told lawmakers on Thursday that blanket US import bans on cotton or other products from China’s Xinjiang region over forced labour concerns would “wreak havoc” on legitimate supply chains. Stephen Lamar, president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association, said his industry is working hard to root out products made with forced labour from its supply chains, but Xinjiang, where China has detained over 1 million Muslim Uighurs, represents a unique challenge. A blanket import ban on all cotton from Xinjiang such as that proposed earlier this month would be impossible to…