Ivanka Trump's labour report blacklists China, where her clothes are made

  • 28/06/2017
Ivanka Trump accused of hypocrisy
The news comes as the first daughter's company faces close investigation about labour practices in China. Photo credit: Getty

President Donald Trump's high-profile daughter has presented an annual report on human trafficking that blacklists China - where her clothing line is produced.

Ivanka Trump presented the report alongside US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday (NZT), but according to Reuters, the report places China, where her clothing brand is predominantly produced, on its global list of worst offenders of human trafficking and forced labour. 

The report divides countries into three tiers based on their records; Tier 1 for nations that meet minimum US standards; Tier 2 for those making significant efforts to meet those standards; Tier 2 'Watch List' for those in danger of falling below those standards; and Tier 3 for countries that fail to comply and are making no significant efforts to do so.

Mr Tillerson has reportedly decided to drop China to Tier 3.

The news comes as the first daughter's company faces close investigation about its labour practises in China.

The Ivanka Trump brand was earlier this year embroiled in a damaging scandal, where activists investigating a group of Chinese factories linked to the brand were imprisoned.

A Fair Labour Association investigation in April this year revealed that a Chinese factory owned by the Huajian Group, where Ivanka Trump brand clothes were manufactured, severely underpaid its workers, and three China Labour Watch activists were set to release an incriminating report about conditions in a factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes before they were detained by Chinese authorities.

The men investigating the factory were imprisoned for illegally recording Huajian's business. 

Amnesty International and the US State Department spoke out against the arrest, but Ivanka Trump's brand distanced itself.

In June, Ivanka Trump brand's president, Abigail Klem, told New York Magazine that Ivanka Trump brand shoes had not been produced at the Huajian factory since March this year.

However, Li Qiang, director of China Labor Watch, the non-profit investigating the factory, said they had found an April production schedule that included 1,000 pairs of Ivanka Trump shoes.

Newshub.