US adds more Chinese firms to forced-labor list; Beijing hits back

China pushed back sharply after the United States added more than 40 Chinese companies to a forced-labor sanctions list over alleged abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Beijing said the move came just one day after the two countries' top economic officials held a video call, and criticized it as a serious breach of agreements reached between the two sides' leaders.

China's Ministry of Commerce issued a statement Saturday calling the US action "entirely groundless" and said using domestic law to impose unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies under the pretext of human rights and forced labor was "a typical act of economic coercion."

The US government added 43 Chinese companies to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, citing allegations of forced labor in Xinjiang and human rights violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. The additions brought the total number of Chinese entities on the list to 187.

A Commerce Ministry spokesperson said the US measures "seriously infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of the companies concerned and undermine the stability of global industrial and supply chains."

The spokesperson added that Washington had announced the "malicious measures" harming China's interests just one day after the two countries' economic and trade officials held a video call and "exchanged candid and in-depth views on the stable development of bilateral economic and trade relations." The ministry said the move "seriously deviates from the consensus reached between the two countries' leaders" and that China "firmly opposes it."

Beijing also demanded that Washington "stop attacking and smearing Xinjiang, stop politicizing the so-called forced labor issue, and stop unjustly suppressing Chinese companies," warning that China would "take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises."

Chinese state news agency Xinhua earlier reported that Vice Premier He Lifeng held a video call Thursday with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.