US sanctions Malaysia's surgical glove maker over forced labour amid coronavirus pandemic

The Trump administration has banned the import of surgical gloves from subsidiarieslinked to Mayasia's Top Glove over forced labour issues amid the coroanvirus pandemic.

US Customs and Border Protection(CBP) said the ban on the company was enforced due to "reasonable evidence of forced labour in the manufacturing process".

Meanwhile, Top Glove said that company will continue to ship its products but will park it the free trade zone as it is allowed to do so till it resolves the issue.

“If they (CBP) are willing to settle (the recruitment fees issue) then they can release the shipment," executive chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai said, adding,"otherwise, the shipment can be diverted to other countries like Latin America, Canada and even the Middle East countries.”

The US has decided to ban two subsidiaries associated with Top Glove Corp. The US Customs and Border Protection said that there were "indications of debt bondage, excessive overtime, retention of identification documents, and abusive working and living conditions".

Malaysia's manufacturing giant Top Glove can reportedly produce billions of surgical glove a year and has witnessed massive surge in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The healthcare workers in the United States have struggled with PPE kits and other meterials as the virus has engulfed the country.

Top Glove said it would be looking at countries hit hard with the virus in Latin America including Peru and Brazil. The company informed that US reprented 25 per cent of its total sales.

The US move comes even as the number of coronavirus cases surged in the country to over 3.5 million infection cases and over 137,000 fatalities.