DHS cites Xinjiang sourcing and genetic testing behind the blacklist decision
The Trump administration said Wednesday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will block shipments of goods by BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech beginning Thursday, citing alleged ties to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. The action comes as biotechnology emerges as another front in the economic and technology competition between the United States and China.
The Department of Homeland Security said BGI Group either sources materials from Xinjiang or works with the regional government to “recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, or receive forced labor” of members of persecuted ethnic groups, including Uyghurs. DHS also said BGI Group has controlling stakes in BGI Genomics and MGI Tech.
BGI Group rejected the allegations. In a Wednesday statement, the company said it “has not engaged in any form of forced labor” and that “we firmly oppose all forms of forced labor.”
DHS pointed to “credible information, including corporate and government reporting” showing that BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech supported genetic testing in Xinjiang. The department said, “The collection and analysis of genetic material facilitate the monitoring, surveillance, and repression of ethnic minorities by the government of the People’s Republic of China, including the abhorrent practice of forced labor.”
The new restrictions are part of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which then-President Joe Biden signed into law at the end of 2021 after allegations of human rights abuses by Beijing against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. Beijing has called the forced-labor and human-rights allegations lies and defended its practice and policy in Xinjiang as fighting terror and ensuring stability.
The announcement expands a blacklist that the Trump administration had already enlarged in August by adding 43 Chinese companies, bringing the total to 187 entities. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has vowed to protect American workers from getting undercut or cheated by foreign companies using “slave labor.”
Congress failed to pass legislation banning BGI from doing business with federally funded medical providers. At the end of last year, Congress passed a similar provision without naming specific companies and asked for a list of “biotechnology companies of concerns.”
BGI Group has long stressed its private ownership and said it does not serve patients in the United States and has no access to Americans’ genetic data. U.S. lawmakers and policymakers have worried that BGI Group’s alleged ties to the Chinese government and its access to massive genetic data could hurt U.S. national security and commercial interests.
The Pentagon has separately labeled BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech as Chinese military companies, a designation that carries reputational damage.
The shipment restrictions follow a Treasury Department proposal last week for new restrictions on U.S. investments in biotechnology, artificial intelligence and supercomputing from flowing into countries such as China.
The action precedes an expected meeting next month between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump in Shenzhen, where BGI Group is based. Xi could then travel to Florida in December for the Group of 20 leaders summit and meet Trump for the fourth time this year as the two try to keep ties stable during a trade truce.
Together, the measures place BGI Group’s supply chain within the administration’s forced-labor enforcement framework while the administration also proposes tighter controls on overseas biotechnology investment. BGI Group disputes the forced-labor allegations, and China rejects the broader claims against its Xinjiang policies.