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>“We have reasonable but not conclusive evidence that there is a risk of forced labor in supply chains related to cotton textiles and tomatoes coming out of Xin

>“We have reasonable but not conclusive evidence that there is a risk of forced labor in supply chains related to cotton textiles and tomatoes coming out of Xinjiang,” Smith said in an interview. “We will continue to work our investigations to fill in those gaps.” ... >In March, U.S. lawmakers proposed legislation that would effectively assume that all goods produced in Xinjiang are made with forced labor and would require certification that they are not. These sanctions are an of extension XPCC / bingtuan sanctions from a few weeks ago. The organizations run XJ agriculture. Ultimately they're kind whatever, XJ tomatoes are <1B export and will be redirected for internal consumption. 40-50B of cotton will be washed through SEA producers. In terms of human rights, the reality is the ag workers particularly Uyghurs are going to suffer more after XPCC sanctions - primarily because region can't import superior US agricultural equipment. So they'll just end up working the people harder. Obviously US equipment producers will also lose out. Decouple is expensive, SMIC lose 4B, PSI loses 100B. The question is whether these moves are smart and within stated interests. Regardless, hope the bar for more significant escalation, particular military ones, is based on more conclusive findings, but you never know with election politics.

yc12340 6y ago
> the reality is the ag workers particularly Uyghurs are going to suffer more after XPCC sanctions - primarily because region can't import superior US agricultural equipment Could you tell more about "superior agricultural equipment"? I have only heard about tractors with DRM, but I assume, that you meant something else.
- dirtyid 6y ago
  From what I read, John Deere harvesters have lower error rates and better efficiency than domestic machines which makes significant difference in cotton production. On DRM note, wonder if they're going to be forced to disable existing machines in the region. That would be interesting. I think half of the cotton production occurs in other provinces, so there's a loophole for more parts and supplies if hacktivists can overcome geo locks or other restrictions. Maybe John Deere will be incentivized to sell DRM free systems.

yc12340 6y ago

> the reality is the ag workers particularly Uyghurs are going to suffer more after XPCC sanctions - primarily because region can't import superior US agricultural equipment Could you tell more about "superior agricultural equipment"? I have only heard about tractors with DRM, but I assume, that you meant something else.

dirtyid 6y ago
From what I read, John Deere harvesters have lower error rates and better efficiency than domestic machines which makes significant difference in cotton production. On DRM note, wonder if they're going to be forced to disable existing machines in the region. That would be interesting. I think half of the cotton production occurs in other provinces, so there's a loophole for more parts and supplies if hacktivists can overcome geo locks or other restrictions. Maybe John Deere will be incentivized to sell DRM free systems.