China Just Sanctioned Six US Companies for Helping Catch Its Forced-Labor Exports.
- 43 Chinese companies DHS added to the UFLPA Entity List in a single action — DHS, July 31, 2026
- 187 total entities now on the UFLPA Entity List, up from 144 — a 30% jump — Federal Register, Aug. 3, 2026
- 6 U.S. companies China's Ministry of Commerce sanctioned in retaliation — MOFCOM / Global Times, Aug. 5, 2026
- 24,300+ shipments CBP has denied entry under UFLPA since 2022, worth nearly $1 billion — DHS / CBP program totals
On August 5, 2026, China's Ministry of Commerce sanctioned six U.S. companies under Beijing's Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law — the first time China has punished firms specifically for helping enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Every Chinese person and entity is now barred from any transaction or cooperation with the six.
The retaliation came five days after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security added 43 Chinese companies to the UFLPA Entity List on July 31 — the single largest expansion since the law took effect in 2022. That action pushed the roster from 144 to 187 entities, a 30% jump, and, effective August 3, subjected their goods to a “rebuttable presumption” that they were made with forced labor, barring them from the U.S. market unless proven otherwise.
Both governments are maneuvering ahead of a planned September 2026 visit by Xi Jinping to Washington, and the exchange landed on companies most Americans have never heard of: a DNA-testing lab, a supply-chain data platform, an industry compliance group, and a human-rights NGO among them. What Beijing calls “economic coercion,” Washington calls enforcement of a 2022 law against slave-labor imports.
China's Ministry of Commerce named six entities in its August 5 decree, all penalized for their role in enforcing the UFLPA: Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (renamed BNB Plus Corp. in 2025), which sells DNA and isotope testing technology used to verify cotton origin; Stratum Reservoir, LLC, an isotope-testing firm; Altana Technologies, Inc., a supply-chain data platform; the Responsible Business Alliance, an industry compliance group; Verite Group, Inc., a supply-chain auditing firm; and Human Rights in China, an advocacy NGO. Some reporting counts a seventh entity, Compliance Testing LLC, in the same announcement window — but that listing appears tied to a separate FCC action on drone imports rather than the UFLPA retaliation itself, and MOFCOM's own decree title referenced six.
Independent China-focused accounts tracking Beijing's notice in real time flagged the decree before most Western outlets had translated it:
Decree No. 2 of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China in 2026 on Countermeasures against Six American Entities including the Applied DNA Science Company. Recently, the United States has imposed sanctions on Chinese enterprises on the grounds of the so-called...
Breaking: China Announces Countermeasures Against Seven U.S. Entities. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce issued a sudden announcement stating that the United States has recently sanctioned Chinese enterprises based on allegations of so-called 'forced labor.' These actions severely...
A third account posted MOFCOM's notice in Chinese; the text below is translated and summarized for this citation:
[Chinese-language post, translated]: China's Ministry of Commerce officially announced its decision to add 6 American entities to the countermeasures list, including: Applied DNA Sciences, Stratum Reservoir, Altana Technologies, Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), Verite Group...
“[The six entities] have assisted and supported illegal US sanctions related to Xinjiang; the nature of their actions is egregious.”
MOFCOM Spokesperson, Aug. 5, 2026 — who also called the U.S. action a “classic act of economic coercion”
The trigger sits in Washington, not Beijing. On July 31, DHS's Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force added 43 Chinese companies to the UFLPA Entity List — the largest single expansion since the law took effect in 2022. The list grew from 144 to 187 entities, spanning aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, tomatoes, seafood, and gold, plus downstream goods made from those inputs. One newly listed firm, Chalkis Health Industry Co. Ltd., a Xinjiang state-owned holding company, was added over its tomato sourcing. Effective August 3, U.S. Customs and Border Protection applies a “rebuttable presumption” that goods from any listed company were produced with forced labor — the shipment is denied entry unless the importer proves otherwise, reversing the normal burden of proof.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin (R admin) framed the expansion as a jobs issue as much as a human-rights one: “The American worker must not be undercut and cheated by foreign companies that use slave labor. Our job is to defend the Homeland, and that includes protecting our citizens from unfair competition that not only disadvantages Americans, but harms human dignity.” Rob Law (R admin), DHS Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy and Plans and chair of the task force, added: “The Trump Administration remains steadfast in its commitment to remove forced labor from U.S. supply chains and to holding foreign companies accountable for their exploitation.”
None of the six sanctioned companies imports a single bolt of cotton or ounce of aluminum. What they share is a role in the compliance apparatus that makes the UFLPA enforceable at all — the labs, auditors, and data platforms companies pay to prove their supply chains are clean.
Applied DNA Sciences, which rebranded as BNB Plus Corp. in 2025, built its business on a molecular tagging and isotope-testing system that lets importers trace raw cotton back to the field it grew in — the exact forensic tool U.S. brands lean on to certify Xinjiang-free supply chains. Stratum Reservoir runs comparable isotope testing. Altana Technologies operates a supply-chain mapping platform that flags hidden sub-tier suppliers connected to sanctioned entities. The Responsible Business Alliance is the industry group whose electronics and apparel members use its audit protocols to screen suppliers, and Verite Group performs the on-the-ground supply-chain audits those protocols call for. Human Rights in China is the lone advocacy organization on the list, sanctioned alongside five for-profit compliance firms. Trade press describes Applied DNA Sciences' specific business exposure from the blacklisting as unclear as of publication.
The sanctions did not arrive alone. Alongside the six-company decree, China tightened export controls on drone-related dual-use items bound for the U.S., suspended cooperation with American-designated inspection bodies, and opened a national-security investigation into imports of printing and copying office equipment. Each targets a category where Chinese supply or cooperation gives Beijing leverage over an American process — drone components, inspection sign-offs U.S. importers rely on, and office-equipment imports that put a Chinese regulatory foot on the scale.
The timing is not incidental. Both moves land ahead of a planned September 2026 visit by Xi Jinping to Washington, with each government stacking leverage before the two leaders sit down. “Both sides are attempting to come up with new approaches, new sanctions, new limitations,” said Peter Alexander, founder and managing director of Z-Ben Advisors. The UFLPA program itself is not new — CBP has denied entry to more than 24,300 shipments worth nearly $1 billion since the law's 2022 implementation — but a 30% one-day expansion of the blacklist, met with China's first-ever sanctions on UFLPA-enforcement firms, marks a sharper edge than the routine monthly entity additions that have otherwise characterized the program for four years.
China's Ministry of Commerce sanctioned six U.S. companies on August 5 — the first time Beijing has punished firms specifically for helping enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The trigger was DHS's July 31 addition of 43 Chinese companies to the UFLPA Entity List, the law's largest single expansion since 2022, taking the roster from 144 to 187 entities and subjecting their goods to a rebuttable presumption of forced-labor origin. None of the six U.S. firms Beijing targeted move cotton or aluminum themselves — they are the testing labs, auditors, and data platforms that make UFLPA enforcement possible. The exchange lands weeks before a planned Xi-Trump summit, with both governments stacking leverage first.
