CBP Issues WRO Against Serbian Tire Manufacturer
CBP has issued a withhold release order against imports manufactured in Serbia by Linglong International Europe based on information CBP said "reasonably indicates" the use of forced labor.
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CBP said in Dec. 18 press release that it will immediately detain all shipments of tires coming from the Linglong factory in Serbia. Workers at these factories were subjected to nine International Labor Organization indicators, including retention of identity documents, intimidation and threats, isolation, excessive overtime, withholding of wages, debt bondage, abusive living and working conditions, deception, and abuse of vulnerability, CBP said.
CBP said that it came to the conclusion Linglong was using forced labor after analyzing supporting evidence, which included worker statements, photographs, employment contracts, text message screenshots, non-government organization reports, news media, and academic research.
“The message is clear—the United States will not tolerate forced labor in supply chains,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott.
This is the fifth WRO that CBP has issued in 2025.
Serbian labor rights group Astra released a 2022 report detailing abuses against the workers at the Serbian facility. It said that many workers were recruited by Chinese recruitment agencies in Vietnam and were quickly trapped in what the organization called "debt slavery" and submitted to intolerable living and working conditions.
The workers were allegedly forced to sign contracts in flagrant violation of local laws, including a clause stating that any form of strike in Serbia is unlawful and one stating that the penalty for violating cultural customs "may include cutting off hands or the head." The report said that it is not clear if this clause was a "deliberate intimidation" of the workers or "erroneously left" from a similar contract for a country under Islamic law.
Labor rights group China Labor Watch released a 2024 report which indicated that the conditions had not materially improved for workers at the Serbian Linglong factory. It stated that workers at the facility were subjected to numerous ILO forced labor indicators, including long working hours, unpaid overtime, passport confiscation, inadequate rest days, and "a constant state of vulnerability" due to recruitment fees and wage withholding practices.
Li Qiang, founder and executive director of China Labor Watch, told International Trade Today that the WRO against Linglong's Serbian operations is "a significant enforcement action" that signals that U.S. forced labor laws can be "applied not only to production inside China, but also to overseas facilities operated by Chinese companies."
Qiang said that, to his knowledge, Linglong "did not engage in any substantive dialogue" about its labor practices or disclose "corrective measures" addressing the issues. "At least prior to the filing of our complaint, we did not see evidence of meaningful efforts to remedy the reported labor conditions," he said.
Enforcement action could compel the company to change its practices, Qiang said, though it "depends largely" on the level and consistency of the enforcement.
"More broadly," Qiang said, "this case sends a clear signal that the replication of low-rights, low-cost labor models by Chinese companies in overseas projects is facing increasing international oversight, and that forced labor enforcement is becoming a material factor shaping their global business environment."
Linglong did not immediately respond to a request for comment.