A U.S. Senate report found three European automakers—Volkswagen, BMW, and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)—sold cars in the United States with parts sourced from a supplier suspected of using forced labor from China’s Xinjiang region.
The report, released Monday, revealed major oversight gaps by the three automakers regarding forced labor in their supply chains. Its findings included “two companies that shipped cars or parts to the United States this year that were made with parts from a banned Chinese supplier,” according to a press release from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and author of the report.
“Automakers are sticking their heads in the sand and then swearing they can’t find any forced labor in their supply chains,” Wyden said in the release. “… I’m calling on Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to take a number of specific steps to supercharge enforcement and crack down on companies that fuel the shameful use of forced labor in China.”
In 2022, Wyden launched an investigation into the possibility automakers had sourced components in cars sold in the United States that were made by a Chinese company banned for using forced labor. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list, compiled by the Department of Homeland Security, restricts goods from entering the United States from companies under the UFLPA.
In February, the CBP halted thousands of Volkswagen brand cars at the border while it investigated whether certain parts were linked to forced labor in Xinjiang, the Financial Times reported.
Wyden said Volkswagen disclosed to the committee in January that a shipment of cars bound for the United States had a part manufactured by Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group Co. (JWD), which had been placed on the UFLPA entity list in December 2023.
The part was procured from a Tier 3 supplier to a Tier 2 supplier to the German automaker, the Senate report noted.
BMW and JLR also sold vehicles in the United States with a component manufactured by JWD, per the report. BMW disclosed to the committee it shipped at least 8,000 Mini Coopers and spare parts to the United States that might have used forced labor.
“This incident underscores the committee’s findings of both lack of visibility and lack of control over foreign supply chains of the automotive industry, specifically within China,” the report stated. “… All three automakers claimed to be unaware that JWD was one of their Tier 3 suppliers for the component until after JWD was placed on the entity list.”
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for JLR said the subcomponent was used in a “prior generation of technology and is not in current JLR vehicles for sale.”
The company added that once its compliance team was informed that a Tier 3 subcomponent manufacturer was on the entity list, it “immediately stopped all shipments of the two affected aftermarket service parts and all existing inventory containing the affected subcomponent globally were quarantined for destruction.”
Noting that the global automotive supply chain is “intricate,” a BMW spokesperson said via email the automaker was “informed by our direct suppliers that a sub-supplier in its supply chain was on the UFLPA entity list. This sub-supplier provided a subcomponent for a larger electronic unit.”
“BMW Group has taken steps to halt the importation of affected products and will be conducting a service action with customer and dealer notification for affected motor vehicles,” the spokesperson said.
Volkswagen did not respond to a request for comment.
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