Amid growing anti-Chinese sentiments in the US, a top Republican senator has introduced a legislation in the Congress requiring online retailers like Amazon to disclose products made in China.
The bill, introduced on Wednesday, stipulates that online retailers legibly state on a noticeable place on their webpage if a product or a major component of that product originated in China, or if the product was manufactured or assembled in that country.
“American consumers deserve to know if a product they purchase online is made in China before they buy it, particularly now as we continue to suffer from the fallout of a pandemic that Beijing unleashed on the world,” Senator Martha McSally said.
“China works every day to subvert American interests and supplant the United States as the world's dominant power,” she said.
The bill requires transparency from online retailers like Amazon, so that consumers are not misled about the origin of any products made in China, McSally said.
The bill would amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to require online retailers to disclose the origin of articles that come from China.
The bill defines online retailers as any person that sells, through an online marketplace or e-commerce platform and requires them to legibly state on a conspicuous place on the webpage if the article originated in China, if any major component of the article originated in China, if the article was manufactured in China and if the article was assembled in China.
Tensions have been rising between the US and China for some time. President Donald Trump's administration has clashed repeatedly with Beijing over trade and the coronavirus pandemic, as well as China's imposition of a controversial new security law on Hong Kong. Washington has been critical of Beijing's crackdown on its Uygur Muslims in the restive Xinjiang province.
China on Monday took control of the US consulate in Chengdu in retaliation to America's move to shut down the Chinese diplomatic mission in Houston, as the ties between the world's two largest economies reached an all-time low.
