BMW and Jaguar, denounced for importing prohibited Chinese parts and cars

This article was originally published in English

Various automobile manufacturers, such as bmw, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagenhave come under fire for importing cars, or car parts, from companies and Chinese suppliers suspected of using forced labor from the Uyghur ethnic group.

The United States has declared it illegal the importation of products manufactured with forced labor. This especially affects the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, where the Turkish Uyghur people are suspected of being exploited by both companies and the Chinese government for forced labor.

To avoid this situation, the United States introduced the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in 2021, which prohibits a series of Chinese organizations from violating labor laws.

Now, an American Democratic report titled “Insufficient Diligence: Car Makers Complicit with CCP Forced Labor”has discovered that one of BMW and Jaguar Land Rover’s suppliers, Bourns Inc, allegedly imported thousands of vehicles into the US, manufactured with parts from entities prohibited under the UFLPA.

The ban was in force from December 2023

The parts, known as LAN transformers, came from Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group (JWD), an entity banned by the US since December 2023, and were used in vehicles that were to be sold this year in the United States. It is expected that some 8,000 BMW Mini Cooper vehicles also contain prohibited components.

In the past, BMW has come under scrutiny for a controversial heated seat subscription service, as well as because its cars emitted far more nitrogen oxide than laboratory tests had detected.

Jaguar Land Rover had also been criticized by the defective exhaust filters of its diesel cars, which could entitle consumers to a legal claim of 3,000 million pounds (3,510 million euros).

Could relations between China and the US become even more strained by the UFLPA?

The relations between China and the US have cooled in recent months, due to a cold war between semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). This has led the US to ban several technology companies, such as Nvidia and Intelthe export of high-performance chips to Chinese companies such as Huawei.

In return, China has banned graphene exports to the United States. Now, the UFLPA law could be the final nail in the coffin between the two countries, since China has consistently refuted these accusations of human rights abuses.

The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, stated, as reported by the ‘BBC’: “The so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of the United States is not about forced labor, but about the creation of unemployment. “It does not protect human rights but, under the guise of human rights, harms the survival and employment rights of the people of Xinjiang.”

The US denies that the self-control policy works

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Democrat Ron Wyden, said in a statement: ““Automakers hide their heads in the sand and then swear they don’t find forced labor in their supply chains.”.

“Somehow, the Finance Commission’s oversight staff discovered what multibillion-dollar companies apparently couldn’t: that BMW imported cars, Jaguar Land Rover imported parts, and VW AG made cars that included components made by a supplier banned for using Uyghur forced labor“.

“It’s clear that automakers’ self-policing isn’t working. I call on Customs and Border Protection to take a series of specific steps to strengthen law enforcement and crack down on companies that fuel China’s shameful use of forced labor.”