2022 FL Senate race: on Free Trade

Marco Rubio: Ban Xinjiang trade to fight Communist China on human rights

UN experts have estimated that more than one million people, mainly Muslim Uighurs, have been imprisoned in recent years in a vast system of camps in Xinjiang. The US and many rights groups have called it "genocide".

"It is a horrifying human rights situation, fully sanctioned--as we now know--by the Communist Party of China," Marco Rubio, the lead Republican sponsor of the bill, said. China has rejected allegations of abuse in Xinjiang, accusing countries of launching "slanderous attacks" about conditions for Uighurs. An independent UK-based tribunal ruled last week the Chinese government had committed genocide, crimes against humanity and torture of Uighurs and other minorities. [See S.65 for details of bill]

Marco Rubio: Assume something made in China is from slave labor

Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): We passed a bill that says, if something is made in a factory in that part of China, we are going to presume it's made by slave labor, and not allow it into the country, unless companies can prove that that's not the case. I think there are many American companies, like Nike and others, that have definitely benefited from the supply chain that's located in that part of the world. We saw the lobbying efforts of Apple, of Nike and others arguing that this would raise the costs for consumers. But, ultimately, it's slave labor.