The probe into PVH Group follows Washington’s move to block Chinese software and hardware in connected vehicles.
Beijing announced on Sept. 24 that it initiated an investigation into PVH Group—a U.S. retail giant that owns brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger—for alleged “discriminatory measures” related to Xinjiang-sourced products.
China’s commerce ministry said its scrutiny of the New York-headquartered company was in accordance with the “unreliable entities list“ working mechanism. This Chinese trade restriction list was established soon after Washington placed Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei on a blacklist in 2019.
Once a foreign company or individual is added to the “unreliable” list, they would be prohibited from participating in import and export activities and investing in China. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has previously used this list to restrict American defense companies’ access to the Chinese market for arms sales to Taiwan.
In an online statement, the Chinese commerce ministry accused PVH Group of “violating normal market trading principles” by “unjustly boycotting” cotton and other products from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. The boycott lacks a “factual basis” and “seriously damages” the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, it added.
In a separate statement, the ministry requested PVH Group to furnish documentation and written evidence to demonstrate whether any “discriminatory measures” have been implemented regarding Xinjiang products in the last three years. It has set a 30-day deadline, starting from the day of the announcement, for PVH Group to comply with this request.
In response, PVH Group said the company is in contact with the ministry and will respond “in accordance with the relevant regulations.”
“As a matter of company policy, PVH maintains strict compliance with all relevant laws and regulations in all countries and regions in which we operate,” the company said in a statement to The Epoch Times via email. “We have no further comment at this time.”
Beijing announced the investigation a day after the Biden administration unveiled an initiative to ban the sale of software and hardware developed by “countries of concern”—particularly communist China—for connected vehicles in the United States because of security concerns.
In 2021, the United States banned all cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang, citing the use of forced labor. President Joe Biden later signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law in the same year, which prohibits the importation of products from Xinjiang unless exporters could prove their products were not made with forced labor.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations have determined that “genocide” was taking place in Xinjiang, citing the CCP’s detention of more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims through a sprawling network of internment camps.
Survivors of the camp said they were subjected to forced labor, forced sterilizations and abortions, torture, and other abuses. The United Nations human rights office in 2022 found that Bejing’s abuses against the Uyghurs may amount to “crimes against humanity.”
Beijing has denied these accusations and pressed businesses and public figures to defend its policies on Xinjiang.
In recent years, several foreign companies have found themselves embroiled in a wave of nationalist outrage—amplified by Beijing and state media—after expressing concerns about the CCP’s human rights abuses and refusing to source products from the region.
In 2021, amid mounting nationalist-fueled online pressure, over 30 Chinese celebrities cut ties with foreign apparel and footwear brands, resulting in several U.S. brands, such as Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, losing their brand ambassadors.